Fairytale
by Kiki Hikari
Summary: Now that Lucy thinks Gray hates her, she tries to dismiss her feelings for him and tries to move on with a Dragon Slayer instead. So what happens when she finds out Gray still loves her? Sequel to Ice Princess.
1. Demon Crosses

**Fairytale**

Chapter One: Demon Crosses

_I'm doing the right thing, _I repeated in my head for about the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. I was on my way to Estonia to save my father from a Dark Guild, apparently and I couldn't bring any of my guild members with me. I had called Infra and the others, though. Hopefully, they would really help me and Natsu wouldn't pick up my trail.

I looked out the window and daydreamed for a while. I hadn't said anything to Gray yet since he was gone somewhere, probably on a mission. I hoped I would get back soon so I could talk to him then.

"Miss?" said the stewardess suddenly, interrupting my thoughts, "There's a phone call for you."

_Nani? _I thought, having not anticipated this. How could they know what train I was on and so soon? I got up though and went inside the small booth with the phone, "Hello…?" I said hesitantly.

"Lucy Heartfilia?" said a deep voice, not at all like anyone in Fairy Tail.

"Who is this?" I asked, glad my voice wasn't shaking as much as I thought.

"That isn't important. The point is that I'm a member of the Dark Guild, Demon Crosses, Aston."

This man wasn't very bright but I decided I obviously shouldn't point that out, "And why are you calling me?" My voice was dropping lower until I could barely hear my last words. I was lucky no one was sitting near since they'd think the girl in the booth is having a meltdown and probably call the doctors.

"It's good that you decided to come and save your father," Aston said darkly, "Like a sweet little girl."

I waited for him to answer my original question.

"And why are we calling you? It's pretty simple, to make sure that you are coming because if you weren't, well, we're just going to have to hunt you down."

I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. So it was a good thing I decided to come in the first place.

"Why are you targeting at my father anyway?" I said, "What's the point of all this trouble?"

"Well, obviously, I can't tell you now," said Aston, "Not when you can still tell our plan to your guild. When you are safely in our hideout in Estonia with no way to communicate with your little friends, then I'll tell you."

Lucky this guy wasn't the brightest man around. I took down mental notes in my head: Demon Crosses had a hideout in Estonia and whatever they were doing had something to do with Fairy Tail.

"So, basically, the whole point of this call is to make sure I'm coming. Well, I am so can I hang up now?"

"Sure," said Aston, sounding as if he were smiling, "We'll be there in a minute, anyway."

"Nani?" I said, just as he hung up. I put the phone back and stepped out, just as the roof of the train broke and three people suddenly jumped in. One of them must be Aston of course but I had no idea who the other two people were.

"Lucy Heartfilia!" bellowed one person. He looked around and saw me standing there, staring, "Here!"

A smart stewardess called the security and tall men in uniforms rushed into the carriage, yelling at the three people.

The third person pulled back the hoodie of her cloak, revealing a rather pretty face in a tomboyish sense. She had short, black, spiky hair and sharp, deep purple eyes. She seemed to have a slim figure, only I couldn't really tell because of the cloak. I could see flat leather boots peeking out from underneath the black material though.

"Foolish people," said the girl, probably around the same age as me, only her voice had a deep note. She blinked and looked at the security with a knowing smile on her face. I knew that smile from somewhere…

Suddenly, the guards froze and turned to stone. I nearly gasped aloud as I recognised the magic used. _Evergreen's magic? And her smile too? What is this?_

One of the men stepped forward to me as the other passengers in the carriage began fleeing to another. He had short, spiky purple hair with a few streaks of black that covered one eye and a little mole under the other. His cloak was covering him but he seemed lean and fit. He was also wearing black sandals underneath his cloak, "You're Lucy Heartfilia, I assume?"

"Yeah," I said, thinking this person reminded me strikingly of Freed. I also suspected he might use Rune magic. I managed to sound braver than I felt. If the third person, who I suppose was Bickslow, had the same abilities as him, I wouldn't stand a chance. I was suddenly grateful I had called Infra and the others.

"Good, that saves us the trouble of searching for you through the train. I'm Aston," he said, though not offering to shake my hand obviously. Just staring me down since he was several centimetres taller than me, "This is Retina," he gestured at Evergreen doppelganger, "and this is Araluen," he gestured at Bickslow doppelganger. His tongue was even sticking out in that way I always thought was strange.

"Anyway," said Araluen in a deep voice, completely unlike Bickslow, "We would like for you to come with us. We need to make sure you get to Estonia as per agreement."

_I wouldn't call in an agreement, more like blackmail, _I thought bitterly. The deep voice seemed so out of place with his tongue lolling out.

But, since I didn't see any way to get out of this situation if you compared my power and magic level with theirs, I nodded, "OK. What's your transportation?"

"A carriage," said Aston, "Although it shouldn't exactly matter since you're coming with us no matter what."

"Fine," I said, walking over and getting my bag, their eyes on me the whole time to make sure I didn't make a run for it, "But, only if you free the security guards first."

Retina looked pissed off at me telling them what to do but she did it and the guards were back to normal and barking at me to stay back.

"It's fine," I spoke up, surprising the security, "They're… friends," I said through clenched teeth, "I'm just going to go and we'll leave you be."

The security bought my lie shockingly and stayed back as I walked towards the trio. They led me away without a word and jumped off the back without waiting for the train to stop.

"Why can't we wait for the train to stop like normal people?" I complained.

"That's not really your choice," said Retina behind me, "Now get off or I'll push you off. The longer you stay here, the longer you have to walk to the carriage."

I scowled but jumped off, landing on the dusty ground and jarring one of my ankles.

"Ow, ow, ow," I said, putting a hand to my ankle. It wasn't broken but there was an awful pain as I touched it and moved it around. Probably a sprain, I concluded. I looked back and saw Retina in mid-air. She was as graceful as a gymnast performing a leap. She somersaulted once and landed without wobbling a bit on the ground, exactly next to me. I gaped at her. Retina scoffed at me and walked ahead without helping me.

_We're going to be best friends, aren't we? _I thought sarcastically, as I pushed myself up and forced myself to follow after her, hauling my bag along. When I reached the carriage, everyone else was preparing to leave.

"Follow me to where you'll be," said Retina with a bored tone and looking at me as if I were a piece of trash. I followed her up to the back of the carriage to a small, cramped room with no door or window except the door leading into the room. So basically, I wouldn't get any light except the small square of it coming in from the door that led into the room.

"We'll give you some food and water sometimes," said Retina, stressing the last word, "Don't bother trying to escape though. You'll never beat us."

"I'm not going to run until I find my father," I said firmly which made her surprised, just a little, "Got that?"

She recovered her cold face, "Your loss. Whenever you save something, you lose something else. In this case, it's your life." With that, she turned around and left, shutting the door behind her, leaving me in the dark. I listened to the commotion outside as the people began preparing the horses until finally; the carriage began moving and rumbling about. I hugged my knees to my chest and listened to the sounds before finally drifting off to sleep.

Natsu went into the guild, shouting randomly at everyone, Happy following suit. They went to the table where Erza and Gray were, back from their missions and talking to each other.

"HEY!" shouted Natsu at the top of his lungs even though Gray and Erza weren't a metre away, "I'm back from the mission! Got a load of cash too! Ha, ha, ha! And aren't you still supposed to be away?" he asked Gray.

"So have we," said Erza, flapping a stack of notes. Gray pulled out his own roll of payment.

"I finished the mission early," shrugged Gray, "There was no reason to stay so I came back."

Natsu grinned and sat down, "Hey, where's Lucy?"

"Probably on a mission," said Erza, eating a bite of shortcake, "She might have gotten one since the mission boards are finally full again."

"Are you talking about Lucy?" said Mira, walking past with a tray loaded with different food and drinks, "She hasn't taken a mission that I'm aware of. She's been gone for a while now. I'm starting to worry about her."

"Maybe the Master knows," said Gray.

The four of them went to the office and knocked.

"Come on in!" called Makarov's cheery voice.

They went in and saw Makarov burning some papers from the Council, "Damn orders. Oh, kids, what can I do for you?"

"Has Lucy taken any missions lately…?" said Erza.

"Not like you to ask about other people's missions," said Makarov, raising an eyebrow, "That concerned, huh?"

"She's not around or anything…" said Erza, "It's natural to wonder, is it not?"

"Perhaps," conceded the Master, "But you should have some faith in Lucy. She won't go into any reckless behaviour and she's a strong, stubborn girl. She can take care of herself."

"Gramps!" protested Natsu, but Mira raised a hand to stop him, "Mira?"

"Stop it, Natsu," said Mira gently, but firmly, "The Master is right. We can't pry into other's business. Although she might not be here now, maybe she has her own reasons."

"All right," said Gray, "But if Lucy's still missing by a couple days, we're going to come back."

"Suit yourself," said Makarov, shrugging, "She'll be back."

When they left, Makarov went back to burning orders and papers from the Council but his mind wandered. Where _was _Lucy? He had to sound brave for the sake of his children but really, now he was worrying as well. It wasn't like her to suddenly go somewhere without informing someone first. She hadn't come to take any missions or anything for her to be absent. He rubbed his head, suddenly having a headache. _Within a couple of days,_ he decided, _then we'll see what happens._


	2. Questions

Chapter Two: Questions

As I woke from my sleep, I yawned and got up to stretch, before I hit my head on the ceiling, "Ow, ow, ow… What the heck? I thought my bed was lower than this…?"

Then I realised I was in the carriage of the Dark Guild, Demon Crosses. Of course, they would have to give me the crappiest room which I couldn't even stand up in. So instead I just stretched out on the floor and rubbed my eyes. I noticed the carriage wasn't moving anymore. They must have stopped for the night since I was asleep for the rest of the day and into the morning of the next.

Just then, as if on cue, the door opened and Araluen stepped in, in his usual cloak and black leather boots. I never noticed his appearance before so I looked up. He had straight grey hair, covering up one eye on the left side and going down to just past his shoulders. His features were sharp and nearly always in a frowning state which was actually weird since he tongue was always lolling out as he spoke.

"Lucy Heartfilia, we have stopped temporarily so you can go and wash up in the river or do whatever you please. Retina will keep an eye on you."

I walked out as he held the door open, glaring at me all the while. Retina was waiting for me outside the carriage, her face a perfect poker face. I stepped off and glared back at the spot where Araluen was, _what the hell is his problem?_

"Don't ask, he's always like that," said Retina coldly.

I turned around, surprised, "How did you—?"

"How did I what?" she said, cutting me off, "I don't think you should be the one asking questions around here, Heartfilia."

"Uh, you can just call me Lucy…" I said.

She glared, "I'll call you whatever I please. Now, hurry up, we're leaving soon."

Strangely enough, I wasn't really scared of them. They were a Dark Guild and they could kill me at any second but they seemed… normal. They had their faults which made them less scary. Aston was a total moron, Araluen was always acting like an idiot despite the glares and stern voice and Retina just seemed like someone who was bitter but had a soft side. She mentioned 'whenever you save one thing, you lose something else'. I wondered about that.

_Did she save herself from something but lost something or someone else precious to her? _I wondered. With her cold personality, it seemed impossible but I wondered as I washed myself in the river. She was on the other side of the river, washing underneath the waterfall.

"Why are you staring, huh?" Retina asked darkly, turning around slightly.

"Nothing," I said, turning around, slightly embarrassed I'd been caught. The rest of the time we were washing was in dead silence except for the sound of the running water. When I finished, I got out and put on my clothes and shook my hair dry, tying it back up again.

Retina came out and dressed quickly, before I even realised and said, "Let's go."

"Huh? Oh, hai!" I said, following after her, somewhat lost in my thoughts.

"You're late," said Araluen as we went back into the carriage.

"I know," shrugged Retina as she sat down in one of the seats and said to me, "Get to the back."

I nodded and went to the back of the carriage as the horses began to trot. I was only in there for a few minutes when Aston came in, holding a bowl of hot soup with small vegetables and pieces of meat bobbing around on the surface, "Here."

I stared for a few minutes, wondering if they'd poisoned it or something. Hey, it could happen, right? Then I slowly took the bowl. It was warm and smelt pretty good.

"It's just leftovers from last night's dinner so don't get too happy about it," said Aston.

I smiled at him nevertheless, "Thanks."

The corners of his mouth twitched but he managed to stay stern-faced and walked out, "Well, as long as you heard me."

Once he left, I began sipping at my soup. I wanted to save it for later if they decided to temporarily starve me. It was delicious though. Before I even knew it, I had gulped down the whole lot.

_So much for saving it, baka, _I scolded myself, putting the bowl aside. I didn't know if I was supposed to bring it back but they had made it clear I wasn't to leave my room so I didn't move. I resumed my almost-always position of being curled up into a ball with my knees hugged to my chest and tried to sleep again but too many thoughts were crowded in my head, demanding my attention.

One of the thoughts was that these members of the guild were not bad. Well, they were but not exactly. Sort of like Gajeel. He's bad but he has soft sides and can be friendly. They were good people, I could feel it.

The second of my thoughts was wondering about Natsu and the others. Surely, they would have discovered me gone by now, maybe they were already trying to track me. I hoped the perfume worked.

_Speaking of that… _I thought, sniffing at my wrist where I'd sprayed a bit. I immediately reeled back. That perfume was strong stuff in many ways. It sticked with you even if I rubbed it clean in the river. I suddenly understood why it was so expensive. I convinced myself the scent had faded somewhat though.

I slowly sifted through each thought, trying to think positively for each one now that the most important thoughts were done. Before I knew it, it was night. I reached into my bag for a blanket since I wanted to sleep but I felt something wet.

"Eh?" I said, lifting out my blankets. They were all completely soaked somehow. I sifted through the contents of my bag and found that a water bottle I'd brought along had somehow slipped free of its lid and the water had wet everything.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said aloud. It was a freezing night and I had thin clothes, no blankets and no help. There's really got to be a limit to how much a person can take.

After a while of trying to just adjust my body to the temperature and failing, I finally worked up the courage to get up and walk to the door. I put on hand on the doorknob and pulled down slightly. It was one of those ones which you pull down and push open. It was unlocked. I opened the door a crack and looked around. They were all sitting down and looking out the window, talking aimlessly to each other.

Just as I began listening, Retina said, still facing the window, "You can come in, you know."

I suddenly felt guilty for eavesdropping on them. If they still had a dark side to them, they would probably hurt me now. But since I couldn't back down now and say I wasn't there, I went in. They turned around in their seats but didn't make any movement to attack me.

After a few awkward minutes, I sat down in the seat closest to the door to my room. If they suddenly changed their minds, I wanted to run straight to the door. Only I didn't think a door would stand in their way, it was something at least.

"Um, I just needed some…" I began awkwardly.

"Here you go," said Retina and a few thick blankets landed on my head.

"Honestly, how do you do that?" I said once I got the blankets off.

"You have so many questions," said Aston.

"Of course I do!" I said, "You people take my father, take me from a moving train and now I'm in your carriage and you can attack me at any second!"

"She makes a good point," said Araluen, "We know everything about her, yet she doesn't know anything about us."

"OK," shrugged Retina, "Ask us anything then, Lucy. Although we won't answer all your questions."

"But that's not fair," I said, "You can lie."

"Or we can tell the truth," said Aston, "Sometimes in life, you take risks. You can go back to your room now or you can ask us questions you might get the answer for."

I scowled. There wasn't any reason they would tell the truth but they could, maybe. I decided to chance it, "Fine. What do you want to do with Fairy Tail?"

Araluen raised his eyebrows, "How did you—?"

"Aston," they both said, glaring at their teammate.

"I may have let it slip," said Aston, and then, turning back to me, "Simple. We want to take over it. Next."

I let out a little gasp, "Take over Fairy Tail? They can't… they won't…"

"OK, don't freak out on us," said Retina.

"W-Why would you want to take over it?" I said.

"Well, we want to because it's one of the most powerful guilds. If Fairy Tail was taken over, Demon Crosses would achieve legendary mages. We'd force them to join us. The three Dragon Slayers, Titania, Makarov, all of them."

"You…" I said, my hand going to my belt, "I will never let you take Fairy Tail!"

My belt was empty, "Eh?" I said, looking. All my keys were gone.

I heard a clinking sound and looked up to Retina, swinging all my keys on her finger, "Looking for these?"

"When did you—" I said, gawking at my keys.

"I'm quick," she said, smiling, "Now sit down and I'll give them back."

"You can't expect me to be calm after you say you want to take over my guild!"

"But you can sit down," she said, not hesitating for a second.

I slowly sat down and she threw the keys back to me. I caught each one and put them carefully back on my belt.

"Although I am surprised," said Retina, "That many Gold Keys, huh?"

I didn't say anything as I put the last key on my belt. I let in swing down and looked up at them again, "What's your guild master's name?"

"Why?" asked Aston.

"Because I have a few things I want to say to him or her," I said, "Starting with, don't go near my guild; get stronger without stealing others to protect yourself."

Retina somehow flinched at this. She frowned slightly and had doubt in her eyes.

"Did I say something…?" I said to her.

"No," she said, turning away, the doubt gone and replaced by her coldness again. The other two stared at her funny, "What is wrong with you?"

"I said it's nothing," she very nearly hissed at them.

"Um, I'll just…" I said, lifting the blankets and running back into my room. After I shut the door, I lied down and pulled the blankets over me, _well, that was weird…_

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Gray sat on the bed in Lucy's room. He stared at nothing in particular. Lucky the person who owned Lucy's apartment didn't mind her friends appearing in there now and then.

He sighed and thought of a thousand situations Lucy might be in. She could be kidnapped, she could be really sick somewhere, she could have run away, she could have fallen into the river in town and drowned for all he knew.

…_But you should have some faith in Lucy. She won't go into any reckless behaviour and she's a strong, stubborn girl. She can take care of herself. _The Master's words echoed in Gray's head.

_I know she's strong, _thought Gray, _yet why do all these situations I'm thinking of have Lucy being the damsel in distress? _

He walked up to get out through the window when something caught his eye. A glinting on top of the cabinet where her box of letters was. Gray stepped towards it and saw it was a silver, plain photo frame holding a picture of his team.

In it, he and Natsu had punched each other in the face. Lucy was looking at them with an alarmed look on her face, Erza was looking furious with a sword raised at him and Natsu and Happy was in the corner of the picture, with only the top of his head and eyes showing.

Gray chuckled, looking at him and Natsu; _I can't believe she kept this…_

He reached out and touched Lucy's face with his index finger, looking at her wistfully, _Lucy… Where are you?_


	3. Support

Chapter Three: Support

_Lucy… _thought Erza, as she walked towards the guild from Fairy Hills. Her mind was clouded with thoughts but everyone knew better not to disturb her when she was in this state, _where are you? Are you OK? Why did you leave?_

Finally, she reached the doors of Fairy Tail and went in, going straight to the bar where Mira looked as if she were expecting her, "Well?"

"I went to her apartment last night and this morning," said Erza, frowning, "She isn't there."

Mira sighed, "It's been a couple of days. We should tell the Master." She pushed over a plate of shortcake.

Erza pressed her fingers to her head and stared at the cake wearily. Somehow, the thought of eating cake while her friend was potentially close to death or worse, already dead somewhere made her sick. She pushed the plate back to her, "No thanks."

Mira stared wide-eyed at her, "You don't want your shortcake?"

Erza shut her eyes and tried to think up a positive situation Lucy might be in, "No."

"Lucy's still gone," said Natsu and Gray as they went up to Erza and Mira.

"I know that," said Erza, rather snappily, "Sorry. It's just; I'm really worried about her. Let's go up to the Master."

They went to the Master's office and knocked before coming in. The Master was already standing there, pacing the room, a frown set into his face, "Still missing, is she?" There was no need to specify who 'she' was.

"Yes, sir," said Mira.

Makarov sighed, stopping his pacing and closed his eyes. He stayed silent for a long time to the point where he could be mistaken for having fallen asleep standing up.

"Um, Gramps?" said Gray.

He opened his eyes, "All right. I'll give you four a special mission to track her down. Discover what she's doing. If she's fine and visiting relatives or something, leave her be. If she is in trouble, help her and bring her home. Do not tell anyone about this mission, understand?"

"But, sir," said Erza, "If Mirajane were to suddenly go on a mission when she no longer has any will to fight, it will definitely raise questions."

"Just say you are going on a mini-holiday," said Makarov, "With the amount of luggage you always take, everyone will believe it." He turned to Natsu, "We're counting on your sense of smell, Natsu."

"Yeah," said Natsu.

"You'll leave immediately," said Makarov, giving them a serious look, "We have to find her."

"Hai," they all said, going back down to the rest of the guild.

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I woke up the next morning again. I was sleeping a lot now. Another meal waited for me in a corner of the room. I crawled over there and picked it up. It was ramen with some soup and vegies and meat. It was actually quite a big bowl of it despite being leftovers.

I ate it all and saw they had collected the bowl from before. I went outside and saw they were all already awake despite it being quite early. Retina looked at me when I came out, seeing the bowl in my hands, "Oh, you finished. Good. We're arriving at Demon Crosses soon, so…"

I bit my lip. I had no idea how to save my father and co. from a whole guild that were probably equally as strong as this team. I hope Infra and the others had understood my plan. As I thought about that, the carriage suddenly stopped.

"Are we here?" I asked in a small voice.

"Nope, we're just in Estonia," said Araluen, "These people don't like us here. Put on your cloaks," he said to the other two who promptly did. He looked at me, "You could probably pass as a normal citizen. Just keep your distance from us but at the same time, discreetly follow us."

I nodded, "OK."

As we got out of the carriage, the trio pulled their hoods over their faces and walked into town. The town was very olden-day like. It had wooden houses and people wearing simple cotton clothes, mostly plain coloured and without patterns. Many of the citizens were also shoe-less. They had market stalls and one-storey large houses. The ground was plain dirt with no stone covering it like in Magnolia.

I looked away every now and then to look absent-minded but discreetly checked on the three people in front of me to make sure I was going in the right direction. I also noticed the townspeople gave a wide space around the three, scowling and frowning at them. They were also gawking at me, the one with different coloured clothes with patterns and shoes. I generally really stood out, so much for blending in as a normal citizen…

Finally, we reached a thick forest full of trees with minimal walking space so we had to go in a single-file line.

"Estonia is famous for its amount of trees," said Araluen, "That's why they have so many wooden merchandise and houses. I suppose they also have the cleanest air," he chuckled, "But this dense, easy-to-get-lost-in forest is why we set up our hideout here. We know this place by heart; this whole area's our territory so anyone who decides to fight us here is sure to lose."

I gulped. The chances for me were just getting lower and lower. Now I had to fight in an insanely dense forest!

"But why would you set up a hideout in the foot of a dormant volcano?" I asked, "Isn't that… dangerous?"

"Not really," said Aston, "It's our home. We have a… sense when it'll erupt. An addition to our five senses I suppose."

"Oh," I said. _But it still seems pretty dangerous to me…_

After hiking for about an hour, we finally reached the volcano. It was massive with a flat top and steep sides. A rather large, dark building was at its foot.

"Here we are," said Aston, taking off his cloak, the others following suit.

More like an abandoned castle than a guild, the building had turrets and large double doors. The walls were black stone and the overall building was about twice the size of Fairy Tail. A large metal plate was set in the stone above the double doors with the guild's mark on it: two scythes crossed over a flame in the middle and fire creeping up the length of the scythes. I looked at the trio, for the first time noticing their marks. Retina had hers on her neck and stood out because of her short hair, Aston had his on his left bicep and Araluen had it on his right.

"Well, let's go," said Retina tugging me along. Now she had her cloak off, she had a punkish look to match her hair and deep voice. Her black sleeveless top had a laced-up back and was plain at the front. She also wore black skinny-leg jeans, her black boots going up to her knees and indigo-coloured accessories including a spiked choker around her neck.

Aston was dressed in black and white clothes. His black, sleeveless top showed off his biceps and he wore white pants with black lining, similar, I couldn't help thinking, to Natsu's with his black sandals. He wore a couple spiked necklaces around his neck.

Araluen was dressed differently. Instead of the punk style, his outfit was like Gajeel's, but in light grey with darker grey patterns.

As we went through the double doors, the people inside whipped their heads around. I looked at them, sensing a strong feeling of déjà vu. The guild reminded me strikingly of Phantom Lord. Evil looking people drank rum, the whole place was dark and the occasional blood splatter was on the wall. It wasn't the neatest place.

As I was about to ask Retina what I should do, I heard the sound of someone walking down the steps. A large, muscly figure walked towards us dressed like the devil in black and red. His cold glare was enough to make me turn away. _This must be the Master…_

"You got her," he said in a slightly deep voice. It reminded me of Laxus', "Well, good job, once again, my strongest team especially with your new additions."

"New additions?" I said, confused, "What— Ow!"

Retina's kick was sure to leave a bruise, "Shh!"

The Master eyed her suspiciously, and then turned back to the rest of the team, "Anyway, good job, especially you, Araluen," he nodded at him, "I was right to make you the leader of this group. You will be a fine Master when I decide to step down."

"Hai," said Araluen.

"For now, however, just put her in the cell in the back until we need her again."

"I will," said Retina, taking my hand and tugging me off, "Come on, hurry up."

I stumbled after her, nearly tripping over she was tugging me away so fast. The other members gave smiles of approval at Retina as she went past. Soon, we were in a long corridor with rooms on either side, each one with a barred window.

"Where's my father?" I asked once we were out of earshot.

"He's locked up, obviously," said Retina, nodding at one of the doors on one side of the corridor. She quickened her pace, until I practically had to sprint to keep up with her. We reached a room where she pushed it open.

"And what was that man talking about, 'new additions'?" I asked.

She paused, one hand on the steel door. She said quietly, "I don't have to tell you." She pushed me inside and shut the door. I heard the click as the door locked and the sound of her footsteps as she walked away.

_What is with her? _I thought, sitting down on the cold, stone floor, _first she's cold, then she's nicer and now she just confuses me. But my father is here and I have to help him._

I went to the door and tried to open it or jimmy it or something but it was securely locked with a key so I couldn't just undo some magic seal to open it. I sighed and sat down, frustrated. Why couldn't something go my way today?

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"This trail leads to nowhere!" complained Natsu, after sniffing out Lucy's trail. They stopped in front of a wooden hut perfume store, "Lucy's scent… I can't smell it anymore."

Erza gave out a little growl of annoyance and marched into the store where a woman looked up, "Is there something I can help you—?"

"Have you seen a blonde girl, blue and white clothes, black boots, a belt with keys on it?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact…" said the woman.

"Where did she go? What perfume did she buy?" asked Erza, "She's a friend of ours and we think she might be in trouble."

The woman looked startled but brought out a perfume bottle, "I believe she bought a sample of this, miss." She sprayed a bit in the air.

Even at a distance, Erza could smell it and it was awful. No, even worse than that. Holding her breath, she yelled out, "Natsu!"

The Dragon Slayer came in and immediately reeled back out, "Oh, God! What is that?"

"Just smell it," hissed Erza, "Lucy's probably wearing this to put you off her trail. We'll follow her this way."

"I'm put off her trail all right!" said Natsu, not breathing, "I think I'll remember this scent without directly smelling it so let's go."

"What's going on?" asked Mira.

"You stink!" shouted Gray at Natsu, "What the hell are you wearing?"

"Eau De Toilet Cleaner, what the hell do you think?" said Natsu.

_Everyone's so uptight… _thought Mira, sighing, _Usually Lucy would be the one calming down everyone… Lucy… _She sighed again and went to calm down everyone. They did but they still seemed stressed and therefore, angry.

_Lucy was the support for this team, _thought Mira, looking at the squabbling team. Even Erza joined in instead of stopping it with a threat like usual, _now she's not here, they're all falling apart._


	4. Lost Magic

Chapter Four: Lost Magic

It had been one day since I was locked up in my cell. I was frustrated, then I was sad, then I missed my friends and then I starved because Demon Crosses apparently didn't even have the decency to feed its prisoners.

The daily guard came by to check I wasn't trying to kick down my door like I did last night, screaming for them to show me my father.

"No kicking today?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Would you like me to?" I asked.

"No," he quickly said, "Just stay put like that."

As he went away, I sighed. If only I had power like Natsu or the others, then I could just bust out myself.

_Hmm… Power… _I thought when a sudden glinting caught my eye. I looked down at my Celestial Keys, _that's it!_

I unhooked Taurus' key and summoned him out. As soon as I did, a green magic circle appeared over the whole roof and I felt a pain like an electrocution spread through my whole body. I cried out in pain and fell down, clutching at my sides.

"Lucy, what can I do to—" he suddenly fell down with a yelp of pain.

"Nani?" I said, looking at him, suddenly panicked, "What's wrong? What is this?"

"This magic," said Taurus between pants of pain, "It was forbidden a long time ago.

"Lost Magic?" I said, "That's impossible!" Well, maybe it wasn't. A guild as strong as this probably did have Lost Magic.

"In a way," said Taurus, "It's a magic which prevents other magic from being used in a particular area. No one could master it since it was so unstable. It also uses a great amount of magic to be able to do it. The more magic you sacrifice to it, the more magic can be prevented. For example, if the caster sacrifices enough magic from himself, it could even prevent Makarov's Fairy Law."

"How can that kind of magic exist?" I cried, "So someone here knows Lost Magic too?"

"Most likely," he said.

I nearly swore aloud but then remembered Taurus was in pain and got out his key again, "I'm making a Forced Gate Close. I can't have you in pain."

"No, first I'll do what you summoned me for," said Taurus.

"No, first I'll summon you back because in this state, we both can't do anything."

I forced his gate closed before he could say anything. When I did, the magic circle disappeared and so did the pain. I sat up, grumbling to myself.

Just then, a guard came against the door, "Got a taste of pain, huh?"

I scowled at him without saying anything.

"That's our Master's magic. Very powerful stuff so no matter how strong your little friends are or how much magic they possess, they'll be useless when using it against the Master."

"What if it's a long-distance fight?" I asked, "That magic can only cover a particular area. What if someone were to use magic outside that area? What will happen then?"

"You have no idea how much area our Master can cover," said the guard, unfazed, "He can cover the whole forest so no one can use magic in there. It's impossible to beat him at that great a distance." He went away.

I thought. The Master of this guild seemed incredibly strong but he had weaknesses in his magic which even I could see. I would have to change Infra's plan and hopefully it would work.

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"This trail leads to the station," said Natsu, surprised.

"She ran away then," said Mira, her voice breaking on the words.

"We'll find her," said Erza, going up to one of the staff of the station, "Hey, hi, have you seen a blonde teenage girl with Celestial keys and blue and white clothes?"

"Yes, she went on that train over there, why?" asked the woman.

"We're friends of hers," said Gray, "We think she might've run away."

"Can you remember where the train was heading?" asked Natsu.

"Well," said the woman, putting a finger on her lips as she thought, "It was a couple of days ago… I believe that train was heading to Datsun."

"Great, thank you," said Erza before barking at the rest of them, "Let's go!"

They caught the train a few seconds before it began leaving the station.

"This train takes a few hours to get to that town so now we have to be patient," said Erza, grumbling at her own words.

The others sighed and stared out the window at down at their hands, a million thoughts going through everyone's heads.

After a long few minutes of silence, Happy spoke up, breaking the silence, "Lucy's going to be OK, isn't she?"

"We can't promise that, Happy," said Mira, stroking his head, "But we hope she is."

Happy nodded and looked around, suddenly noticing something, "What is that?" he asked, pointing at the roof of the train. Everyone looked up at the rather large hole in the ceiling, clumsily rebuilt with planks of wood hammered over it.

"Who knows," said Erza, turning back to the window.

Natsu suddenly widened his eyes, sniffing and looking out the window, "Eh?"

"What is it?" asked Gray.

"Lucy's scent," said Natsu, "I smelt it back there."

Everyone was out of their seats in two seconds and running to the back of the train.

They all jumped off without waiting for the train to stop, all landing solidly on the ground, Happy flying off.

"Ah, I forgot the luggage," said Erza, suddenly remembering, running back towards the train.

"Are you serious?" yelled Natsu, "You still care about the stupid luggage?"

"She'll be back," said Mira, turning to Natsu, "Where's the scent, Natsu?"

Natsu sniffed and went towards a direction, leading into the forest, "Lucy's scent is going this way."

Erza caught up then, tugging along all the luggage, "What the hell is she doing, wandering into the forest all by herself?"

"She must have a reason," said Happy.

After walking for a long time…

"Estonia," said Mira suddenly.

"Nani?" said Gray.

"Estonia is where she's going," said Mira, "That's the only town in this vicinity she would go to."

"Mira's right," said Erza, "Since we're heading in this direction, the only town here is Estonia."

"What's Estonia?" asked Natsu.

"A town, obviously," said Erza, "But… why would she go there. It doesn't make any sense…"

"In any case, it's approximately two days of walking we have to do."

"Lucy hiked all this way?" said Natsu, "That makes no sense."

"She could have taken a vehicle," said Erza, "She would have went through here two days before we did so her tracks would have disappeared. We're just lucky this perfume is so strong so her trail still remains." Erza hiked ahead, quickening her pace, "However, no matter how strong the perfume, we have to hurry before her scent disappears completely."

"Something doesn't smell right, though," said Natsu, sniffing in the air, "From what I smell… Lucy's not alone."

"Nani?" said Erza, turning around, her eyes like the Devil's, "Is it anyone you recognise?"

Natsu shook his head, "This is new and it doesn't smell good either. I got a similar smell when we went into Phantom Lord and fought Oracion Seis. It's the smell of a Dark Guild."

Everyone's eyes widened. Mira and Erza were the first to recover and hiked so fast, they almost disappeared from sight in five seconds.

"This is bad, Mira," said Erza, "The situation is worse than what we thought."

"Yeah," nodded Mira, suddenly stopping, "It's so hard to hike in this," she said, lifting her dress. She looked toward a line of tall bushes and back to Gray and Natsu. She could change before they caught up, "Wait for me."

She went behind the bushes and changed, coming back out. Erza widened her eyes, "That outfit…"

"I haven't dressed like this in so long," said Mira, touching the purple clothes and tying up her hair, "I had the size alterations made since I haven't worn these since Lisanna's 'death'. I never wanted to wear these again but since Lisanna's back, I am. I'll never forgive anyone for taking a member of our guild." She frowned solemnly and Erza widened her eyes. She could see a part of the 'Demon' Mirajane in her face for a second.

Instead, Erza just shrugged, "OK, whatever you want, let's go!"

"Don't go so fast— Ahhh!" shouted Natsu, reeling back at Mira, "The Demon's back!"

Everyone jumped for cover except Erza, "Jesus! She hasn't changed otherwise I'd be fighting with her now," she turned around, "Come on!"

"Don't worry, mina, I haven't changed," said Mira, smiling at the trees where everyone was hiding.

"It's even scarier seeing the Demon smile like that!" cried Happy, hiding behind Natsu's head.

"Stop fooling around!" barked Erza, "Now come on or I'll leave you behind!"

"OK," said Mira pleasantly, following after her. Natsu, Gray and Happy followed but at a distance away from Mira who was smiling the whole time.

_That actually is pretty creepy, _thought Erza, shuddering at the sight of the Demon smiling. She walked faster ahead, looking positively petrified.

"Nani? Why is everyone acting strange?" asked Mira, completely oblivious, still smiling like an angel, looking at the wide space between her and everyone else.


	5. Retina

Chapter Five: Retina

I grumbled to myself the whole day, unable to sleep. The cold stone and strong feeling of homesickness didn't help me either. I started missing everyone terribly; Natsu and Gray's fist fights, Erza eating about fifty shortcakes, Levy always asking about my novel, Juvia's friendship which had improved considerably with no more death glares since all issues had been cleared up, even Gajeel's never-ending scowls.

Just as I was going through everyone in the guild and their unique quirks, I heard some footsteps outside my cell. I immediately jumped out and tried to look out of my barred window. I swear, if they tried to hurt my father…

But no; they were coming towards _me_. I saw the guild Master, the Demon Crosses trio and some man I hadn't seen before. He seemed to be elderly, dressed in dark clothing and having a walking stick. Or was it a sceptre? It had an ordinary appearance except for the jewel-embedded top and carved vines along the side. I might have mistaken him for a kindly old man if it weren't for the evil glint in his eyes.

When they reached my cell, the Master held up a hand without a word, a green magic circle appearing, thrusting the door open, whacking me in the head since I was right behind it.

"Ow!" I cried, falling backwards, rubbing my head. Seriously; why couldn't he open the door like a normal person? I resisted the urge to yell that at him since I'd probably just get hurt again.

I could see the old man was suppressing the urge to laugh at me and said, "Lucy Heartfilia, we would like for you to come with us."

I glared at him, "What for?"

He didn't say anything, instead raising his sceptre/walking stick and drawing a circle with the jewelled end, tapping it once in the middle. A silver magic circle appeared and a ray of piercing light shot out, missing me by a hair's width, smashing into the ground, splitting it. I looked behind me at the deep crack in the ground, my eyes widening, "EH?"

"I won't repeat myself again," said the old man, solemn now. I quickly scrambled up, _well; it shouldn't be that bad… I'll get out of here and then I can attack them because there shouldn't be a magic prevention spell outside!_

The Master and old man walked in front, the trio guarding my back to make sure I wouldn't escape. Like a person running away would actually escape with this many skilled mages in the room. Once I began walking, I gave a yelp of surprise and clutched at my ankle. _It's still sprained, _I suddenly remembered. I just hadn't been paying close attention to it since I barely moved in the last couple of days.

"What's the matter with her?" asked the Master, turning around slightly.

Aston knelt down, looking at my ankle, gently tugging my hand away and feeling my sprain without removing my boot, "It's a sprain," he concluded, pressing it gently, "It's already badly swollen. We have to get medical help immediately."

"She can take it, she has for the past couple of days," said the Master darkly, walking ahead, "Come on."

"Sir—" said Aston.

He glared at him with a look to match the demon's, "Are you questioning me?"

Aston flinched, and then said hesitantly, "No, sir…" He slowly stood up and offered a hand to me. I saw the Master glaring daggers at him though until he reluctantly withdrew his hand. I pushed off the ground myself thinking dark thoughts about this 'Master' who was probably the worst person I'd ever met so far in my life.

I struggled along, stumbling every now and then. The trio's faces were emotionless but they seemed to be patient with me, not frowning and grumbling like the Master every time I fell down. We eventually reached a large stone corridor, lit by torches. It had probably once been a dungeon, judging by the cells on either side but it seemed to have not been used in years.

Finally we reached a rather large wooden door, framed with iron. It was heavily guarded by about twenty mages standing in rows but bowed and parted their formation when we arrived. The Master walked towards the door, muttering something that sounded like gibberish to me and made his magic circle appear. The door clicked open and he pushed it open, looking at us to go inside.

We walked in and the sight before me surprised me. It was a dimly lit room although I was expecting that with only a couple small windows along the stone wall. The whole room was mostly bare which surprised me. I was thinking there was going to be some top-secret weapon or something in there for it to be so heavily guarded. But there were only a single large shelf with many glass bottles stored on it. In each bottle was a jewel, identical to the one the old man had in his sceptre.

The only other thing in the room was a large wall thing with clamps installed in it to restrain the person in it.

Me. I knew that at once when the Master nodded at his trio team, "Get her in it. The sooner the better. And get Kyrie up here."

_Who is Kyrie? _I thought but Retina already had a hold of me and urged me forward. She locked me in place on the wall quickly, my wrists and ankles restrained. As the Master talked to his team about getting that Kyrie someone, I looked at the shelf in my peripheral vision. The glass bottles seemed to have tags on them which I could barely see. I read three bottles' tags, _Bickslow, Freed, Evergreen._

_Nani? _I thought, _those three people… That can't be a coincidence…_

"Do you like them?" asked the old man, suddenly in front of me, "Soon, your name's going to be on one of those too." A magic circle appeared above my head.

"Nani?" I said before I suddenly blacked out.

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Retina, Aston and Araluen went back through the corridor, back with the rest of the guild. Everyone turned around and nodded or smiled respectively in their direction as they walked through the guild.

Retina broke off from the other two, "I'll get Kyrie." Then, without waiting for their response, she went up to a teenage girl sitting in the centre of the guild. She had blonde, wavy hair, held loose which covered up her right eye wearing a large black crown hair comb on the top of her head. She had narrow-ish emerald green eyes, a mole under the left one. She wore a flowing black dress, the silk material nearly touching the ground and had matching black heels.

"Kyrie, the Master is waiting for you," said Retina.

"Hai," she said in her light, childlike voice. She got out of her chair gracefully without even lifting up her dress and walking to the corridor.

Retina watched her go, wondering if she just did something she'd regret. This Lucy… She was one of a kind. She reminded her so much of _her_!

_I have to accomplish my goal, _thought Retina, _but… I can't let Lucy die. It'll just be like watching __**her **__die all over again… Then again, if I help Lucy, the guild will be exposed to who I really am and then __**I'll **__be killed and therefore can't accomplish my goal. Argh!_

She stomped off to her room which she shared with Aston and Araluen and sat down against the wall. All her life, she had worked towards her goal and was doing very well so far to the point she just couldn't give it up. But then, Lucy seemed just as important as _her_. She just couldn't let her die which she knew would happen if things kept going at this rate.

_The last three were lucky to escape… _thought Retina. Then her head went back to her original problem and the first tears she had seen in a long time started to fall. Which was more important to her?

Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside her door. Two people, most probably Aston and Araluen, decided Retina. She forced her tears away, something she hadn't had to do in a long time, since _that_ happened. She couldn't let actual Demon Crosses members to see her crying because they would ask and her cover will be blown.

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"OK, that should do it," said Erza, putting a few sticks together for a makeshift campfire.

"Why can't we keep walking?" whined Natsu, "I can make torches for us! We can keep going!"

"We can't, Natsu," said Mira gently but firmly, "We all need some sleep because if you're half dead charging into a Dark Guild, we'll be sure to be defeated in record time. We only have to hike one more day until we reach Estonia."

"The perfume scent is fading," said Happy, "Hopefully it'll last during tomorrow."

"It better," said Erza, sounding as if she was actually threatening the perfume, "Where the heck is Gray anyway?"

Gray sat on one of the pile of rocks underneath the waterfall. The rocks were tall enough and far enough away from the waterfall so that he didn't get wet. He gazed up at the moon shining in the sky and somehow pictured Lucy's face next to it with the stars, _Gray!_

He flinched for a second and then pressed his fingers to his head, muttering aloud, "I really need some sleep… Now I'm beginning to have hallucinations." A headache from lack of sleep throbbed in the back of his head which he tried to will it to go away.

_Though, Lucy_… thought Gray, _does she hate me for suddenly springing the 'I love you' part on her? Did she want to spend more time with me first or just simply saw me as a friend? Was I supposed to wait longer? _

Gray knew Lucy. She panicked about these kinds of things. Panicking to say the right thing and to not hurt someone's feelings. That was just Lucy and one of the things he loved about her.

_What if she went off to think and then somehow got kidnapped by a Dark Guild? _thought Gray suddenly, _so then… would this whole situation be __**my **__fault?_

The sudden situation seemed possible if Gray knew Lucy which he did.

_What have I done? _

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**And… I'll just let you guys wonder about Retina's mysterious past! I pretty much have the rest of the storyline plotted out so I'll update soon and please review!**


	6. Spirits

Chapter Six: Spirits

"OK, everyone, up and at 'em!" yelled Erza, "We're setting off early today since you all want to go so much!"

It was the crack of dawn when Erza got up. Naturally, Mira had woken a couple of minutes after her and the two of them decided to spare everyone ten more minutes of sleeping. And ten minutes had passed.

"Erza… Ten more minutes…" groaned Natsu, rolling over.

"I gave you ten minutes!" shouted Erza near his head, "And since you're the one who bothered me until midnight about setting off to find Lucy, we are now so no complaining!"

Happy floated up sleepily, "I'm up."

"Good boy," said Mira, patting him on the head.

At that moment, Gray came back into the cave where they had slept, "I'm back."

"Where the hell were you last night?" said Erza, "I was starting to think someone kidnapped you too when you didn't come back!"

"I slept outside by the waterfall," said Gray, "It's more comfortable than sleeping on a rock."

Erza glared but didn't ask anymore on the topic, instead barking at Natsu, "Get up, Natsu! I'm not repeating myself!"

"Hai, hai," he said finally, getting up, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He yawned and got Happy, "Let's go, Happy."

"Aye sir!" said Happy, flying out of the cave.

The others followed suit and started walking through the forest again. The perfume scent was fading rapidly and they had to move quickly to be able to follow it.

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I woke again, my vision blurry and clouded. I was lying down on the stone ground of my cell again. I pushed up and rubbed my eyes trying to get rid of the blurry vision. It worked and I tried to remember what had happened for me to be knocked out again. Or had I just fallen asleep?

Then it all came rushing back. The old man with a weird sceptre type thing, the oddly heavily guarded room containing bottles with my friends' names on them and when the old man had knocked me out with some sort of magic. I pushed myself up and winced at my still badly sprained ankle. Then I noticed a shadow fall across the room and realised someone was standing outside my door.

I looked up and saw an unfamiliar face looking at me. She was about the same age as me with shining blonde wavy hair, only it was lighter than mine. A large black crown hair comb sat on the top of her hair. I could see her black silk strapless dress which showed off a dark green jewel which I'd seen in the old man's staff strung on a thin gold chain.

"Who are you?" I asked, although my first intuition told me the answer, "Kyrie?"

"I was," she said in a high tone of voice, "But now I'm not, thanks to our great Master Reiki and his assistant, Ochre. They're the head of our guild you know and they changed me."

"They… change you?" I said, not understanding what the heck she was talking about. How could you _change _a person? What was the point of individuality if people could be changed?

She held up her left hand where a glinting gold charm bracelet gleamed at me, "Do you recognise these? Now I'm the new owner of all these gold keys."

I gave out a little gasp as I recognised the gold items flashing on her bracelet. Aquarius, Gemini, Virgo, Loke…

"My Spirit keys?" I cried, reaching my hand down to my belt. It was empty. It felt so strange now, to not hear the clinking of my keys whenever I moved like I was so used to, "When?"

"You were knocked out," she said matter-of-factly, "It was easy to get your keys off you."

"You can't take my keys!" I cried, _after all the hardships I went through just to get them but most importantly…_

"They're my friends!" I cried, "You can't just take them away!"

"Well, I am, so…" she said.

"Wait…" I said, realising something, "They have the choice to not obey you; I'm the one who has a contract with them!"

"You're really dense," she said, frowning, "There's a reason why Master Ochre is so respected in our guild. He has a special Lost Magic that was forbidden centuries ago."

"How many people know Lost Magic in your guild?" I said, irritated.

"Just the two," she said pleasantly, "But I'm not spilling the Lost Magic details to you. To put it simply, now I'm the one they have contracts with which means they have to obey me if they don't want me killed and they'll be banished forever into the human world like your little Loke friend."

"How do you know about that?" I said, surprised, "And how is that possible? You can just steal a contract from me…"

"Actually, we can," said Kyrie, "I know a lot about your Spirits, as much as you do. It would be particularly bad if your spirits were to spend their life in the human world. Especially the ones who can't endure as long as Loke did. I wonder how long they would last…?"

"What is your point?" I asked slowly, anger boiling in me.

"I want an official order from you for your Spirits. You have to order them to fight for me otherwise they'll spend their life in pain in the human world. And you won't let them go through that, will you?"

I thought. If I refused to order my Spirits to fight for Kyrie, she would probably die because they'd refuse to fight for her and my Spirits would be held responsible and banished forever into the human world where they would slowly die like Loke nearly did. If I did order them to fight for Kyrie, they would be healthy and well. Besides, someone should defeat a wretch like her soon enough and then maybe my keys would fall into the hands of someone good who would take care of them since their contract would be broken.

"OK," I finally said after a long pause of thinking, "Tell my spirits this message from me: 'Fight for Kyrie. Don't worry about me; I just want you all to be safe. I couldn't bear for anyone to be hurt by being banished into the human world because you all won't fight for her. Please just do that, for me.'"

"God," said Kyrie, "You expect me to remember all that?"

"Are you going to deliver the message to my friends or not?" I snapped at her.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, "Don't you go getting all grouchy since you'll die soon anyway."

"What?" I said.

"We've used you and you're not needed anymore," said Kyrie, "So you'll die." With that, she walked away, the clicking of her heels fading away.

Once she was gone, I slumped against the back wall and started to cry. This guild had taken so much away from me: my father and my Spirit friends. And apparently that wasn't enough for them; they even wanted to harm Fairy Tail. I started to cry harder, my whole body shaking with how hard I was crying.

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On the other side of the wall where Lucy was slumped against, Retina sat there, breathing deeply. She knew this would happen, yet she didn't do anything.

_I made the wrong decision, _thought Retina, a wave of regret passing through her, pressing her fingers to her head, _I should never have let them hurt Lucy so much._

She reached towards her boot and took out a silver key. Lucy's cell's key, _but now I've made my choice. _

She stood up, stuffing the key back into her boot, _tonight, Lucy. Tonight, I'll fight for you._

She looked back at the wall once before running into the forest, _Lucy's friends are close and Kyrie's already started to move towards them. I have to help them._

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**So… again with the suspenseful end! I know this chapter was a little confusing so I'm sorry for that. :(**

**But anyways, please review~ :)**


	7. Raven Hawk

Chapter Seven: Raven Hawk

"We're nearly there," said Erza, "We have about twenty minutes until we get to this town. We moved quickly so we cut off a lot of time from our original one day time. We reached here in about half the time!" They were now walking in a sort of desert environment which was just outside of Estonia. Boulders and rocks stood all around.

"Magic," said Mira suddenly, "It's strong magic…"

"No, it's endurance and a whole lot of determination," said Erza.

"Erza," said Mira sharply, "Don't you sense that? This strong magic…"

"It doesn't smell good," said Natsu, wrinkling his nose, "It smells like… a Dark Guild member. Like what Gajeel smelt like before he joined Fairy Tail… and he stank."

"Are you exaggerating?" asked Gray.

"Probably," said Happy.

"No, it really smells," said Natsu, "And it's close too."

Everyone immediately resumed a defensive posture, waiting and listening for whoever was coming. Suddenly, a figure stepped out from one of the large boulders, "I stink, do I?"

"Well…" said Natsu, "Anyway, who are you and what guild do you belong to?"

"I'm Kyrie," she said pleasantly and lifting up a lock of her blonde hair to reveal large, black earrings in the shape of a mark, "I belong to the Dark Guild, Demon Crosses."

"Requip!" said Erza immediately, "Heaven's Wheel armour!" Her silver outfit appeared and she summoned twenty swords, all aimed at her, "Tell us where Lucy is!"

"Make me," said Kyrie confidently, removing one of the gold items from her bracelet, "Gate of the Lion, I open thee; Leo."

"Nani?" cried everyone, well aware there was only one gold key for each Zodiac spirit, "Lucy's—"

Suddenly Loke was summoned, "You!" he immediately said, turning to Kyrie, "You're not Lucy, what did you do to her, huh?"

"Nothing," said Kyrie, "I simply borrowed you for a while. I made a deal with your former owner. You don't belong to her anymore."

"She's still my owner!" said Loke fiercely, "And all the other Spirits agree with me!"

"Well, maybe that's so but unfortunately you don't have a choice but to fight for me," said Kyrie, "I won't hesitate to die to make sure all your Spirit friends spend eternity in the human world! The pain that you felt while you were here; do you really want to inflict that on your friends? With that in mind, protect me, Leo and kill these four and the cat."

"Lucy wouldn't want that…" said Loke though he sounded less defiant this time.

"Wouldn't she?" said Kyrie, speaking more to everyone now, including the other Spirits, "What were those words she said… Hmm… That message was too long but I think this was it: 'Fight for Kyrie. Don't worry about me; I just want you all to be safe. I couldn't bear for anyone to be hurt by being banished into the human world because you all won't fight for her. Please just do that, for me.' Does that sound like something your dear friend would say?"

Loke flinched and seemed to be completely terrified. He turned to the team of five, "Guys… Look, I'm sorry but… As a spirit, I have to obey my owner's words and… I still regard Lucy as my owner so…"

"It's OK, Loke," said Mira gently, "But… We can't go easy on you."

"It's fine," said Loke, going into a fighting position, "We'll see how it turns out."

"OK," said Natsu, his magic circle appearing, "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" A blast of fire burst out and Loke picked up Kyrie, noticing that he didn't get a thousandth of the satisfaction he got by saving Lucy by saving her, and jumped out of the way. The fire exploded where he had been a second ago. He placed down Kyrie just in time to dodge a bunch of swords coated with fire.

_Natsu must be working together with Erza, _thought Loke, "Regulus!" He kicked and hit all of the swords in random directions, protecting Kyrie who was merely standing there, watching.

_So much unlike Lucy… _thought Loke; _she would be fighting alongside me right now._

Some shallow cuts and mild burns appeared on Loke's skin. He hissed and held his hand to his face. He looked up just in time to see Gray's Ice Make Cannon aimed past him at Kyrie. Mira was in her Satan Soul form and formed the move which had been used against Freed, "Soul Extinction…"

Kyrie looked completely calm and looked at Loke.

Gray fired the same time Mira unleased her attack and the two attacks combined. Loke leapt in front of Kyrie, the combined attack hitting him instead.

"LOKE!" yelled Mira and Gray at the same time.

Mira's Satan Soul disappeared and she slumped to the ground, tears falling from her eyes, "I can't do this anymore… Loke… Gomenasai…"

"Loke!" cried the others running to the spirit lying on the ground, badly injured and already fading back to the Spirit World. Kyrie just stood there emotionless, not having any regret for letting her Spirit take the attack.

"Loke," said Erza, "Oi, are you OK?"

"The guy just got hit with a cannon and an attack from hell, of course he's not OK," said Kyrie.

"You…!" said Natsu, glaring at Kyrie, looking like a true dragon, "You're… nothing like Lucy! You don't even care for Loke, who took the damn attack for you!" His fist burst into flames.

"Natsu…" said Loke, struggling to get up, clutching his middle where the attack had hit him. He faded in and out, probably trying to force himself to stay in the human world despite his injuries. He struggled to stand in front of Kyrie, "Up until I die, I will protect whoever Lucy tells me to."

"Lucy wouldn't have wanted you to die for this person's sake!" yelled Gray, getting up; carrying a cannon about three times the size of the original, "We won't let you die for her!"

Suddenly, a glint caught everyone's eye. A sword sliced through the air, connecting with a bare spot on Kyrie's bracelet and cutting the gold metal, making the bracelet fall off onto the ground. Another blade a second after the first sliced through the air and pierced the thin gold chain of her necklace, making it fall off.

Kyrie stared at the bare spots, "Eh?"

"Kyrie!" called an unfamiliar voice.

She looked around into the eyes of Retina and immediately turned to stone.

Retina walked calmly towards the mages, picking up the gold items along the way. She held it out to them, "I believe these belong to Lucy." She took the necklace for herself, using a blade from the ground to pierce it in the middle. With two cuts, she had broken the green jewel.

"Who are you?" asked Erza, taking the keys, "And what was that green jewel?"

"She stinks!" cried Natsu.

"Enough with saying everyone stinks!" said Gray, before turning to Retina, "Did you throw that?" he pointed at the blades on the ground where they had thunked after slicing off Kyrie's accessories.

"Yeah," said Retina, kneeling down beside Loke, "Your friend here kicked them in my direction. So I used them."

"You have an excellent aim," said Erza, picking her own swords off the ground and making them disappear in a magic circle. She looked around. The nearest rock that Retina could possibly hide behind from view was nearly a hundred metres away. Even Erza herself had trouble slicing a sliver of metal from that great a distance with a thin blade.

"I've done it enough times," shrugged Retina. She placed a hand over Loke, a magic circle appearing.

"O-Oi, what are you—" began Happy.

A light purple light pulsed out and began healing Loke's wounds. All the others watched, their mouths open.

Finally, when she was finished, Retina lifted her hand away, "Feeling better?"

Loke had finally become solid again without fading in and out, "Yeah… Thank you… uh…"

"Retina," said Retina. She nodded towards Kyrie, "Kyrie's been defeated and you fought your best for her. You won't be banished and we can all go and save Lucy."

"Why would you want to save Lucy?" asked Gray suspiciously, looking at her fully-exposed mark, "You're a Demon Cross member."

"I have my reasons," said Retina without hesitation, "Now, there's a forest outside the guild which you can even see from here," she gestured to the line of green in the distance, "That forest is insanely dense and you'll probably spend two years wandering in it without a guide. And here's your guide," she said.

"Why should we trust you?" said Natsu.

"That's your decision," said Retina, "You either trust me or you don't."

"OK," said Erza, dragging everyone into a little huddle, a safe distance from Retina, talking in whispers, "This girl is deadly as we've witnessed but she's also helped us by defeating Kyrie and healing Loke. I say we trust her."

"She has the same abilities as Evergreen," said Mira, "You can't tell me you don't find that suspicious."

"Anyone could learn Evergreen's magic, Mira," said Erza, "They could learn it or get a lacrima placed in them. If it was a Lost Magic, I might have been suspicious but there's nothing wrong with her having Evergreen's magic."

"There's something else suspicious about her," said Mira, "She has a strong magic and she seems familiar…"

"I agree with Erza that she helped us though," piped up Natsu, "She gave us back Lucy's keys! If she were our enemy, she would have run away with them, right?"

"Unless she wanted us to drop our guard before killing us all," said Gray.

"We all can take on one single mage," said Happy, "If she turns on us, we will have the advantage! There's nothing to lose!"

"I think we should trust her," said Loke, "Or at least, I do. She saved me, you know."

"Well, I think our decision is made," said Erza smugly. She turned around to Retina, "OK, we trust you. For now. You said you'd take us through that forest, right?"

Retina nodded, "Yeah, twenty minutes or less if we move quickly enough."

"And I'll just tell you now," said Erza, "If you decide to randomly try to kill us, I will kill you in twenty minutes or less."

"Fair enough," said Retina, not batting an eye, "Let's go."

She walked ahead towards the town, "Just to let you know… I'm not liked in the town so you guys better keep a distance from me if you don't want to get the wrong reputation."

"Why aren't you liked?" asked Natsu, dense as ever, "You could be a great doctor or a mage for the town!"

"What was your first impression when you saw this mark?" asked Retina, showing her Demon Crosses mark.

"Oh yeah," said Natsu.

_In the forest…_

"You're sure we're going the right way, right?" said Happy.

"Yeah," Retina nodded, "This path is very familiar to me. We should reach the place any minute now."

As soon as they broke into the clearing, something didn't seem right.

"This feeling…" said Retina, mostly to herself. Suddenly, she felt a blade flash through the air and turned around; tackling Natsu to the ground, "Watch out!"

The silver dagger thunked into the ground, whistling past Natsu's head. Then, many people dashed out of the guild and forest, surrounding them all, flashing weapons and a green circle appeared above them all.

Erza gave a small growl and yelled, "Requip—" She broke off with a scream as Reiki's magic took effect.

"Don't use any magic—!" yelled Retina but she was quickly cut off as a sword was at her throat. The others already activated their magic and were electrocuted, allowing some people to restrain them.

Suddenly, a dark silence fell over the guild as the Master Reiki came out, Ochre at his side. He came through as the crowd parted, letting him through. He came to a stop in front of Retina, "Good job, Retina, luring Titania and Salamander here. Even that Demon girl who supposedly gave up fighting a long time ago."

"I did," said Mira.

"You," said Gray at Retina, "Did you plan this?"

"No!" said Retina as some people began cheering for her for 'leading' the mages there. The dagger at her throat disappeared as its wielder recognised her and murmured a 'sorry'.

"You're a Dark Guild member!"

"No I'm not!" Retina's cool exterior finally broke, "I'm not a Demon Cross member! I never was!"

"Nani?" said everyone, even the actual members.

_That suddenly came out, _thought Retina, _shit…_

"No, I suppose you never were," said Reiki, not surprised in the least, "I thought there was something familiar about you when you came here two months ago. I asked Ochre to secretly investigate for me and I finally found out."

"Nani?" said Retina, panicked now, allowing Reiki to grab her by the neck and hold her up for everyone to see.

"The teenager who went undercover in countless Dark Guilds, destroying them all," Reiki nearly growled, his grip tightening on her neck, just about strangling her, "always dressed in black like the raven and as skilled in fighting with abnormally accurate eyesight as the hawk. You're that teenager, aren't you? The Dark Predator, Raven Hawk!"

... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Ahahas, finally came up with a name for Retina! I actually had to think for about an hour to come up with 'Raven Hawk'. :(**

**Anyways, don't think I've forgotten about Lucy… (She'll be in the next chapter :)) Infra and the others will appear soon, I promise! :) **

**I also have something planned for Aston and Araluen~ so look forward to that and Lucy and Gray finally reunited! Yays!**


	8. Fallen Dark

Chapter Eight: Fallen Dark

"Raven Hawk?" said everyone in surprise.

"Raven Hawk…" said Mira, "I knew there was something familiar about her…"

Retina stayed silent. She hadn't expected for anyone to find out about her true identity. She glared at Reiki who smiled, satisfied he had uncovered her secret and put her down. He barked at a group of members, "Take these people to the Heartfilia girl's cell. They can all die together since they're such great friends."

Some people grabbed Retina by her wrists which were held behind her back. As she walked, she passed Aston and Araluen. Araluen leaned against the guild's door frame, his eyes closed. Aston was more direct. He glared at Retina, "You were going to kill us all!"

Retina felt a stab of sadness now that the only two people she trusted in the guild had turned against her. She turned away, "I wasn't going to kill you two." She continued walking with the others to Lucy's cell.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

My eyes had finally decided to stop crying after the loss of my spirits. I still missed them; I hadn't even used Scorpio yet! But more over that, they were close friends and I always through they'd be by my side, literally, but now they weren't. It felt strange to not see that gold glint in the corner of my eye now.

Suddenly, I heard lots of people walking towards my cell again. I didn't feel like talking to the guards today so I stayed curled into a ball leaning against the wall. Until, I heard his voice.

"Let me go, I have to go find my friend!" shouted the undeniable voice of Gray.

I immediately tensed up, the way I always do whenever Gray's around. I hadn't seen him since I'd left him in the street to go running after Juvia. Now I started worrying about that. _If _it was Gray, which it probably wasn't since I thought the perfume would do the trick, he would probably hate me now for ditching him like that. Maybe I could talk to him about it… but it was something I actually didn't want to do considering he probably hates me and all.

As the footsteps neared, I heard Natsu's voice, "Where's Lucy, dammit?"

My breathing became rapid. If Natsu and Gray were both here, Erza probably was. I nearly cursed aloud. If they somehow forced them to join this guild, they would be incredibly strong. I wondered how they beat my team? Since they were shouting, 'let me go', they were probably being restrained by some people. How strong was this guild to beat all of them at once?

Suddenly, my door was opened and one by one, each person was tossed in: Natsu, Gray, Erza, Mira, Happy, Loke and Retina.

"Mina?" I cried, "And Mira too?"

"You shitheads!" yelled Natsu, running towards the door which the people were quickly trying to shut. He raised a fist, small flames flickering.

I suddenly remembered Reiki's magic, "Natsu! Don't—!"

He yelled in agony as the magic took effect and fell to the ground, holding his side.

"Natsu!" I said, going over to him, "Are you OK?"

"Lucy?" said Natsu, instantly happy seeing me, "Lucy's here!"

"Lucy!" cried the others of my guild except Retina who sat against the wall, her head touching her knees as she slightly curled up.

"Are you OK, Lucy?" asked Mira.

"Mira-chan! Ahhh!" I yelped, seeing her in her 'Demon's' outfit.

"Don't ask," said Erza, holding out a glinting gold object, "Look what we have."

"My Spirits!" I cried, taking the bracelet, "Thank you!" I took off each key, placing it carefully back on my belt, "How did you guys get here?"

"A train and then we hiked," said Erza, "Anyway, that's not important. The point is, what are YOU doing here? You just suddenly ran away! We thought you were dead, Lucy!" she shouted.

"My father," I said, "He was held for hostage here along with his guild. I had to come here to save him."

"Why didn't you ask us to come with you?" said Gray, "You could have died by yourself, no offence."

"I couldn't," I said, "If I brought any of you, my father would be instantly killed. I'm sorry I suddenly disappeared, but I had to for my father."

"Your father," said Retina, speaking for the first time, "is not here."

"Nani?" I said.

"Why would they have to bring him here?" said Retina, "They knew you would come if they wrote your father was hostage in the message and you did so why waste time to actually kidnap your father?"

"Lucy, that's the most obvious trick in the book; come on," said Natsu, rolling his eyes.

"Well, what if he was actually in danger?" I said, "I couldn't risk it by not coming."

"She is right," said Mira. She turned to Retina, "OK, now that we see Lucy is safe and kind of starved-looking but still safe, you," she looked evenly at Retina, "I think you have a lot to explain."

"Maybe," said Retina, "But I don't know what information is useful to you so you have to ask me what to explain."

"OK," said Loke, "That's fair. The one I want to know most is… Why are you bothering to help us?"

"It has to do with Lucy," said Retina.

"Eh? Me?" I said, pointing to myself.

Retina nodded, "When I was little…"

"Uh, we're just looking for a direct answer, not a whole history thing," said Happy.

Retina rolled her eyes, "It has to do with the answer. Just sit down and listen."

We did as she said.

"When I was little, a Dark Guild attacked my village," said Retina, "They killed a lot of people, including my parents. I was only about two at the time. Somehow, the Dark Guild hadn't noticed me and didn't kill me. Anyway, after time, I had to leave and learn to fend for myself. A town was near my hometown, Talien. Soon, I made it there and usually lived in alleys and hunted for food. Then, one snowing night, I think I fell unconscious or something because I was sick with a fever caused by the weather. When I woke up, I found out someone had rescued me," she smiled slightly, "Her name was Freya and she was a strong mage of the town guild. She was very kind and taught me magic and treated me like her own. Then, one day, another Dark Guild had come to attack Talien. I was about ten then. Freya and her guild fought them but they turned out to be stronger. At one point, I couldn't stand just watching them and ran out to help but then a Dark Guild member noticed me and was about to stab my head to kill me when Freya protected me. She was stabbed in a crucial area and yelled at other guild members to take me away and protect me. I didn't want to leave her dying there, but I was eventually taken away by the guild. After that, I felt an incredible sadness and regret that I didn't do anything sooner. I also made it my goal to destroy as many Dark Guilds as I could for taking away everyone precious to me."

"OK, so what's the point of this story?" asked Natsu.

"Natsu!" hissed Erza, hitting him in the head, "She's speaking of losing someone! Be polite!"

"No, it's OK," said Retina, "Anyway, Lucy reminded me so much of Freya. She was a strong person and a believer in using your own strengths instead of stealing someone else's. This guild would have killed Lucy. I helped her because if I let her die, it'll be like seeing Freya die all over again. And also, if she died, you guys would probably feel the same pain and sadness I did and I never want to inflict that on someone else."

"I see," said Erza, "So you're not actually a part of this guild but rather, you want to destroy it."

Retina nodded, "Although it has been hard. Aston and Araluen have become close friends in the two months I've been here. If I decided to kill this guild, I wouldn't be able to kill those two and if I destroyed their guild, they'll hate me forever."

"What do they like so much about this guild?" said Mira.

"It's their home," said Retina, "Literally. Araluen is Reiki's son."

"NANI?" I yelled, "His SON? Who'd be nuts enough to MARRY that guy?"

"Yeah," said Retina, "Aston's been here since he was five. This guild is home to them. And I guess someone hungry for power. Although it's said she's passed away."

"Well," I said, "Moving on from this topic, I want to ask, what the heck is this guild doing?"

"Well," said Retina, "As you might have noticed, I have the same abilities as your friend, Evergreen. I didn't learn it. It was actually implanted in me."

"Like a lacrima?" asked Gray.

"Not exactly," said Retina, "Ochre copies a person's abilities, sometimes some of their DNA and memories as well, and puts them into another person. We can have as many people's abilities in us as possible without any harm. It was forbidden a long time ago because some people had the idea to make the ultimate human weapon with all these legendary abilities stuffed into them. You can even copy the abilities of long-dead people and give them to others. When the Raijinshuu tribe and that water mage came here to save a town aka, Estonia on a mission, we beat them and copied their abilities. I was given Evergreen's abilities, Aston-Freed's and Araluen-Bickslow's. The water mage was the one who was sneaky and managed to escape before she could be copied and freed the others. Although, Ochre had already messed with all their memories a bit and they have no idea we have their abilities, except the water one."

"Juvia…" I said, "And the Raijinshuu team."

"What's that green jewel you were holding and broke?" asked Natsu, "The one that was around blondie's neck?"

"You fought Kyrie?" I cried.

"Yeah, we beat her, case closed, I don't feel like explaining. Anyway, what was that jewel?" asked Erza to Retina.

"When Ochre copies abilities, he copies twice," she said, lifting up two fingers, "One he actually implants in the person and the second into a magic jewel. When someone has gotten new abilities, they usually have trouble controlling it or getting enough magic power for it especially if it's a strong magic such as, let's say, your Requip magic," she said to Erza, "If they wear the jewel, it gives them a boost in magic power and helps them control the technique better. That's why people with recently implanted abilities usually have to wear them like Kyrie. When people have gotten used to their abilities like me, they don't have to wear it."

"Well, if all they do is give a magic power boost, why did you destroy it?" asked Loke.

"It's been said that if you destroy the jewel with a person's ability implanted in it, the implanted person will no longer have that ability. For example, since I destroyed Lucy's ability jewel, Kyrie should no longer have contracts with any of Lucy's spirits and can't summon them any longer."

"Thank God," muttered Loke.

Retina smiled, "So basically, the whole point of this whole operation was to get Lucy here, lure other Fairy Tail mages here, defeat mages using Lucy's ability since her friends wouldn't bear to fight her Spirits, copy everyone's abilities and become the strongest guild."

"That sucks," said Gray.

"Of course it does; that's why we're busting out of here and destroying the whole guild, except for a few exceptions." She moved her hand over her mark and an indigo pulse radiated out, erasing her Demon Crosses mark, "Only I have no idea how we are going to get out. We can't use magic in here and there's only one way out which is by a locked, steel door."

"Well, maybe we can dig out?" I suggested.

Mira tapped the stone floor with her shoe, "With what?"

"Maybe there's a weak spot in one of these stones?" said Erza, looking thoughtfully at the stone walls.

"Ah, I know, I know!" said Natsu enthusiastically, "I'll punch out the wall with my Dragon Slayer magic!"

"Are you not listening?" I said in disbelief.

Suddenly, a clicking of footsteps interrupted our bizarre/useless ideas. We all looked up to see shadows falling over our cell.

"Go away, we're planning how to get out of here!" shouted Natsu.

"You idiot!" yelled Gray, "How dense are you?"

Then, unexpectedly, I heard a click and we looked up to see the door swinging open.

"Hey, Luce," said a familiar voice, "Sorry we took so long but… we're here now."

I looked up to see Fallen Dark smiling at us.


	9. Rebellion

Chapter Nine: Rebellion

"Infra, Nero, Ladin!" I cried, leaping up to them.

"Oi, Lucy, not so loud!" hissed Nero, "This place isn't friendly, if you haven't noticed already!"

"Oh," I said as realisation dawned on me and I immediately felt stupid for yelling so loud. Then, in a whisper, I said, "How did you get my key?"

"Some guys gave it to us," said Infra, "We came to the guild and two guys saw us outside. They said this would be useful to us and gave us the key. Then we just sneaked in without anyone noticing and here we are!"

"What did the guys look like?" asked Retina, appearing at my side.

"One was a punk rocker and the other was a silver-haired, tongue-sticking-out weirdo," said Infra, "And… who are you?"

Retina started to explain but I cut in, "Too long to explain. Basically, she's a well-known friend."

"Oh, OK," shrugged Ladin, taking my word for it, "So we should really be going."

"Yeah," nodded Retina, "Reiki's always watching; we have to move as quickly as we can. Follow me." She turned and ran towards a blank wall a couple of doors down. She held her hand over it, muttering a few incoherent words. A thin outline of a rectangular door appeared and gradually became solid, allowing us to pass through into a mostly lit room. It had a wooden floor with floor-to-ceiling wooden beams and wide windows.

"Reiki showed me how to do that when I first joined," said Retina, running ahead, "This guild is full of secret doors that can lead anywhere. Now we're upstairs without even having to take any stairs!" She suddenly stopped, "Ow."

"What's wrong?" asked Ladin.

She reached into her boot and pulled out a silver key, "Oh."

"What is that?" I asked, looking at the key.

"Well, it's the key to your cell," said Retina.

"Why didn't you use it back there?" cried Natsu.

"I forgot I had it," replied Retina.

"NANI?" we all shouted.

"Stop shouting!" said Mira, "At this rate, anyone will know where we are—"

Suddenly, the floor broke, splinters of wood flying everywhere in front of us and a dark figure jumped out which I saw to be Reiki, "RAVEN HAWK!"

He landed solidly on the other side of the hole, breathing heavily and looking furious, "You traitor!" he shouted at Retina, "I knew it was a mistake to show you where all those secret doors were!" He closed his eyes to be immune to her magic, "Just now I realise what a mistake it was to implant eye magic in you." He muttered words as a green magic circle started to appear.

Erza reacted and quickly used her Requip magic to throw swords at him in the blink of an eye, causing him to jump away and break his chant. The green circle disappeared.

"Keep attacking him with long distance attacks!" said Erza, summoning sword after sword and hurling them all at him, "Don't let him summon that circle!"

"Loke," I said to him since he was already out anyway. I got my whip out to fight alongside him.

"Yeah," said Loke, "Regulus!" He tossed a few gold spheres at Reiki who dodged them all neatly, landing beside a beam, ducking behind it to avoid Erza's swords.

Suddenly, Reiki summoned his magic circle and a series of shadows appeared.

"Shadows?" I said in surprise as they darted towards us.

"Watch out, they can be dangerous!" said Nero, ducking as one zoomed past his head.

The shadows took place before each person and slowly moulded into a shape.

The shadow before me slowly grew legs and arms, the top of it slowly taking the shape of a ponytail.

"It's me," I realised as the shadow beside it grew to look like Loke. The shadows were completely black with no features but solid, like black mannequins except it had our hairstyles and body outlines.

"What is this?" said Erza as her shadow copy took swords out of a black magic circle and got into a swordfight with her, "These are the exact same copies of us."

"Is it an illusion, Erza?" asked Gray, avoiding his shadow's ice blade as it came whistling past his head. I avoided a crack of a whip as my shadow attacked me and counter-attacked back but the shadow skipped aside.

"No," said Erza, clashing swords and changing her armour, "I can't sense anything!"

"Shouldn't this take up a lot of magic power?" asked Mira, dodging her shadow's attacks, "Satan Soul!" At the same time, her shadow transformed into a solid outline of Mira's Satan Soul form.

"It should," said Retina, expertly catching the shadow's sword as it zoomed past her and hurling it back, "Reiki's 'Shadow Storm' should take up lots of magic power. But he has a huge amount of magic so I can't really say how much it actually affects him."

I dodged another whip attack but landed accidentally on my sprained ankle. It shot a huge pain up my whole body and I cried out in pain as I fell down, clutching at my ankle. The shadow immediately took advantage of this and raised her whip. I closed my eyes and waited for the blow but it never came.

I opened my eyes and saw someone had protected me.

"I owe this to you, don't I?" said Gray standing in front of me, a long cut set diagonally on his chest. Some drops of blood dripped from the wound.

"Gray!" I said in shock as I crawled over to where he was. I looked around for his shadow and saw it standing beside the shadow-me. My shadow lowered her whip and I somehow heard a message in my head in my own voice but at the same time, it wasn't mine, _Gomenasai… what you have is rare. Don't lose it._

The Gray shadow seemed to be saying something to Gray as well before both turning to the rest of the shadows. One by one, they stopped fighting and seemed to be apologising to their human forms before fading away. All except Retina's who kept fighting.

Reiki seemed shocked for a moment as the shadows stopped fighting, "N-Nani?" But he became more confident as he spied Retina still fighting. He laughed and said, "Even her shadow is all for herself! Like when you abandoned your own guardian in the street for your own safety, right, Retina?"

"Liar!" yelled Natsu, "She regrets it every day you shithead!"

Retina suddenly stopped moving so fluently, allowing her shadow to knock her down, a sword pointed at her throat. When I looked at Retina, her eyes were wide and scared. She must have remembered Freya dying and feeling guilty for it because of Reiki. All of us started to run to help her but a glow suddenly interrupted us.

We all looked over to Reiki who was struggling to keep his own magic circle closed, "N-Nani?"

The green circle burst wide open and another shadow came into view. She was taller than the others and her dark wavy hair bounced about as she moved. A few curls framed her face and she was graceful, stopping beside Retina's shadow.

Retina's shadow immediately stopped fighting and looked up at the taller figure. They seemed to be talking. Retina's eyes practically burst out of her head as she looked at the taller shadow.

_What's wrong with her? _I thought.

Retina's shadow seemed tame after talking with taller shadow. She dropped her weapon and seemed to apologise to Retina before both shadows disappeared.

"I-Impossible," said Reiki, moving his hand as if trying to summon them again but nothing appeared. After a few failed attempts, he glared at us; specifically Retina who was defenceless since she was so scared looking for some reason, "At least the death of one of you will be worth it!" He lunged towards Retina who didn't move, paralysed to the spot.

"Watch out!" I yelled at her but she didn't seem to hear, trying to run to her instead.

"Lucy, don't move!" cried Mira.

Before I could ask why, I looked over to Reiki who looked surprised. At the last second, he kicked at something between him and Retina, pushing off and doing a somersault, landing solidly back on the ground.

"How—?" I began to say when a Rune wall appeared in front of Retina, stretching across the whole width of the room so it appeared in front of us and became a barrier between us and Reiki.

"Runes?" I thought, thinking for a split second maybe Freed had somehow appeared but then I remembered someone else knew how to do Runes.

"You should call us before you get in a head on battle with the Master of a Dark Guild, you know," said a familiar voice.

Two figures jumped down from one of the beams in the room. One landed on our side and the other on Reiki's.

"Aston!" I cried, looking at the figure on our side, before trying to look past him to the other person on the other side of the Runes, "Then, he is…"

"Araluen!" bellowed Reiki, "What's the meaning of this, huh? You're choosing that traitor over your family?"

"That traitor is your son's friend," replied Araluen, his tongue not sticking out for once. He added in a quieter voice, "One of the best friends he had."

"One of the only friends you've had," snorted Reiki sarcastically before adding, "So for that traitor who was planning to murder you, your only other friend and your whole home, you would fight me, your father who brought you into this world by the way?"

"This isn't a home," said Araluen, "And you're not a father." He resumed a fighting position and barked at the rest of us, "Go! Leave my father to me!"

"Are you kidding me; no!" yelled Erza, "It's suicide!"

"Maybe so but it keeps you all safe," said Araluen.

"Over my dead body!" shouted Natsu, running at the wall. He thunked against it and more symbols appeared: _No mages may pass this wall._

"I made that rule just then," said Aston, "We have to go now!"

Hesitantly, Erza spoke up and said in a quiet voice, "We have to go."

Retina got up shakily and seemed to temporarily recover from whatever shocked her, "We do have to go."

We looked between Araluen and the escape door before finally turning towards the door. Gray and Mira helped me up since I could barely walk. Aston came over and put his hand over my boot, "Hold still." A light pulsed out and my ankle surprisingly became better. I turned around to Loke, "You can go back to the Spirit World now, Loke."

"OK," said Loke, slowly fading away. I turned back around and saw Aston healing Gray's cut.

"Sorry, I don't have much magic power left," he said, "The healing won't be as good as it can." The bleeding stopped and skin grew back together but it left a dark scar there in its place.

"Yeah, it's OK," said Gray, looking over to Araluen, "But I don't feel too good about leaving him behind…"

"Araluen has a great sense of pride," said Aston, "He couldn't bear for anyone to be hurt because of father. He's really stubborn and a great leader. And, he's the only one here who has a chance at beating him."

"Why?" I asked as we made a run for it. Reiki yelled something at us but we ignored him, obviously.

"That Lost Magic that prevents other magic from being used…" said Aston, "As well as knowing it himself from having it implanted in him, Araluen even knows how to undo it."

"Undo it?" I said, "How?"

"I don't know," said Aston, "He's the only one who knows how. Reiki taught him everything he knows so it's an even match between them. It's dangerous for anyone else to be near when they're practising, let alone having a death match."

We ran through the door, back into the one where the cells were.

"The only way out in the front, main door," said Retina, sounding as if she were cursing.

Suddenly, before we could reach the door leading to the front of the guild, it smashed open and members of Demon Crosses burst in. I never realised there were so many members.

Erza yelled above the uproar, "Mira and I will stay behind! You all go ahead!"

"We will, too!" shouted Nero, pointing to himself and Ladin, "Infra, you get out!"

"Like hell!" shouted Infra.

"Go!" shouted Nero.

Infra scowled but ran after us as we pushed through the crowd to the open door. The minute we stumbled through, we saw Ochre.

"Hello, Fairy Tail mages and co and rebellions," he said pleasantly to us, raising his sceptre, "I have to let you know I was made Reiki's assistant for a reason other than my Lost Magic. I implanted everything I ever copied into myself."

"Nani?" I said, "Everything?" I remembered Retina's words, _we can have as many people's abilities in us as possible without any harm _and all the bottles on that large shelf in that heavily guarded room. Just how many abilities did this old man have?

"Yeah," said Ochre, looking up.

"Don't look in his eyes!" said Retina just in time. We all ducked our heads as Ochre released attack after attack from his sceptre at us and tried to force us to look up.

"This is ridiculous; how do we fight like this?" said Gray, dodging a blue bolt of magic.

"Use your other senses," said Retina, closing her eyes and ducking instinctively as a beam shot past her head.

"I've never relied on my other senses!" I said, trying to not look at Ochre's face.

Just as I couldn't take it anymore, I looked up but something blocked my view. A huge, what seemed like a hand, came through the floor, bringing up wooden splinters and smashing Ochre to the ceiling, breaking through that as well. Some wooden chips cut my hands but I didn't care. I only knew one person who could do that.

Sure enough, a small figure jumped through the hole in the floor after the hand shrunk. The unconscious figure of Ochre fell down and smashed onto the floor, leaving a dent most probably.

All the others had opened their eyes and smiled at the sight or having a full blown grin in Natsu's case.

Standing there was our guild Master!

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**So… finally finished this chapter! I spent ages trying to think up a decent fighting style for Reiki. I don't know what's with me and mistreating fathers lately~ I insist this is a coincidence though. xD**

**Please review~**


	10. Angel

Chapter Ten: Angel

"Master!" I said in delight as I saw the tiny old man standing there in his white and gold cloak.

"Gramps!" said Natsu and Gray.

"Tiny, little old man… Who are you?" asked Infra.

"Makarov," said Aston, "One of the Ten Wizard Saints. Why is he here?"

"He's the Master of our guild," said Natsu proudly, "Gramps, what are you doing here?"

"Well, what kind of father would I be if I couldn't even protect my own children?" said the Master, turning around, looking at me, "And you; you have a lot of explaining to do."

"H-Hai…" I said.

"But for now, run," said the Master, running ahead, grinning as we had to sprint to catch up, "The old gramps still has it!"

"How can you be grinning at a time like this?" I asked in disbelief.

Just as we came barrelling out of the guild, the window above our heads smashed and glass pieces rained down.

"Lucy, watch out!" said Gray, knocking me out of the way as a huge glass piece that would have pierced my head fell down where I'd been a second ago.

"Ow, ow, ow…" I said, rubbing my head and opening my eyes to thank Gray. I flinched at how close he was. Since he had knocked me out of the way, he had pinned me down, his body over mine but I never expected him to be this close. His face was literally ten centimetres away from mine. So close, our lips could almost touch. I remembered the adrenaline I felt when I'd kissed him before and almost just pulled his face down to mine so I could experience that feeling again.

_But he probably hates you right now, _said some random voice in my head, _besides, __**you **__are the one who rejected him and left him in the raining street. Like he would want to kiss someone who rejected him like that. He probably just rescued you because of a reflex action or maybe because he __**might **__still like you __**as a friend **__because there's no way he still loves you._

I practically had to force the words 'thank you' out of my mouth instead of saying something stupid like 'you're driving me insane! I love you! I'm sorry for ditching you in the street but I did love you, long before that!" I imagined what my face had to look like since I couldn't blurt out those words. Probably stressed, pained or both.

"It's OK," said Gray, getting up, although he sounded strained. It was probably because by moving suddenly, his wound started to hurt, I convinced myself instead of letting my imagination making up lots of other ridiculous fantasies.

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**Gray's POV**

I nearly lost my self-control in front of Lucy again. I forced myself to get up and said, "It's OK." It sounded so strained, even Natsu could tell I was dying to blurt out at her, 'I still love you, OK? You might hate me right now for springing the 'I love you' part on you but I still love you.'

I remembered the words that shadow had spoken to me, _you might be doubtful now but soon, you'll find out the truth. Don't do something you will regret…_

What did that even mean? There were thousands of things I regretted doing in my life, starting with going out to stupidly find Deliora and letting IU die for my mistake and acting like a jerk towards Erza when she had such a rough past when we were young. And what truth? The truth was right in front of my eyes; that Lucy hated me. It made perfect sense. Why she was avoiding me and why she always looked so stressed and pained in front of me like she wanted to break the news that she never loved me without hurting my feelings. Naturally Lucy to try to find the best solution where everyone's feelings remain unhurt.

_But I love you and only you, Lucy. I guess you just don't feel the same._

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**Lucy's POV**

I just had to turn away then. Every look of pain on his face… Was it because of me? I couldn't stand the thought of him hating me when I loved him so much. I turned and saw Retina fallen onto all fours, tears falling from her eyes. I walked over, "What's wrong?"

"Araluen…" said Retina, tears falling, "Araluen is…"

I looked over at a piece of Araluen's grey clothing on the ground and a fallen, dead doll. I remembered Bickslow's ability was to possess dolls and they would fight for him. I looked up at the window, "Is that the room…?" Then, realising it was, I looked down at Retina having a complete breakdown.

"Well, just because his doll's fallen doesn't mean he's dead," I said consolingly. I made lots of Bickslow's dolls fall, yet he was still alive.

"I can't sense his magic power anymore," said Aston in a dead voice, "He's gone."

"Araluen…" cried Retina, sobbing loudly although she probably didn't care who saw.

"Reiki will come soon," said Aston, though his voice sounded forced out, "We have to go."

Retina gave a stiff nod but couldn't make herself move, I guessed.

Aston, having some tears himself, knelt down and picked up Retina bridal style. He walked towards the forest, back to the direction of town.

"No," said Infra, taking a hold of his arm, "If we run towards the town, that'll put them in danger too. And besides, what about Erza and Mira and Ladin and Nero?"

Aston paused and turned back around, "So we should beat Reiki first?"

"Yes," said Infra, "Only I don't know how and we should probably wait for them to come first before we go running off on them."

Just then, ironically, four people ran out of the guild which I saw to be Erza, Mira, Nero and Ladin.

"Good, you're all safe," said the Master, smiling happily, "However, we must think of a way to beat this Reiki person. I've heard about him and that Lost Magic of his. I don't think my Fairy Law alone can stop it."

"Yeah," said Natsu, "No ordinary magic will beat it."

"I have a plan," I piped up. I had to change my plans again and again because of new things that popped up randomly but I believed that my current plan would work.

Everyone stared at me. Usually, I wasn't the one coming up with battle tactics but I smiled at them as if to say _just trust me _and they seemed to let me say my plan.

"The idea's something I had to change a lot of times," I said, "But, finally I came up with it."

"And that is?" said Happy impatiently.

"Unison Raid," I said.

"Unison…" said Erza.

"Raid?" said Ladin.

"No ordinary magic can work against Reiki," I said, "Demo, I have a theory and I'm pretty sure Unison Raid with all of us will work."

"All of us?" said the Master, "Lucy, Unison Raid is indeed a rare, strong magic and everyone here does have good bonds with someone else but it has only been done with two people. There's no predicting what will happen if all of us do it at the same time and so much magic power is released."

"It should be fine," I said, "We are all really experienced with our magic and have complete control over it. Nothing bad should happen. But, Master, I want you to hold back enough magic power to use Fairy Law if anything bad should happen or if Demon Crosses has even more reinforcements or something."

The Master seemed reluctant but finally, considering we all would be completely exhausted from Unison Raid and if it didn't work, we would be done for, he nodded, "All right."

"But… what kind of attack will come out?" questioned Erza, "If all our powers are combined, it will be crazy."

"I want a dragon!" shouted Natsu excitedly. At least someone was really getting into the idea. He turned to Infra, "Ne, ne, you manipulate fire, right? Can you make the attack in the shape of a dragon with your fire, please?"

"Our attacks in the form of a dragon?" said Infra, cocking her head. She looked at Natsu's excited face and shrugged, "I guess it'll be all right…"

"HOORAY!" cheered Natsu, practically knocking Infra to the ground with his hug, "Thank you!"

"O-Oi…" said Infra, trying to get back up.

"So…" said Ladin, holding a stick and drawing a rough sketch of a dragon, "We'll have a fire dragon thanks to Natsu and Infra with feather wings thanks to the cat and swords and ice spears and magic eyes and the demon's attacks… And I am getting confused…"

Suddenly, a figure leapt out of the smashed window and landed in front of us. Reiki grinned a cruel smile and his clothes, I noticed, were smeared with blood. I tried not to think about whose. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Retina and Aston flinch. Retina was back on her feet although she looked unsteady.

"It seems I expected too highly of my son," said Reiki, "I expected him to be as strong as me at least. Worthless," he shook his head, "I'm disappointed in him. He's weak because he trusts people and has friends who hold him back. Maybe if he'd just never had you two," he pointed at Aston and Retina, "he would have lived a longer life. Now you two are responsible for his death."

"Don't listen to him," I said to Aston and Retina, "He wants you to feel guilty."

"Anyway, I suppose I should get this over and done with. A Dragon Slayer, Titania, even one of the Ten Wizard Saints, Makarov. I've really hit the jackpot! My guild will be unstoppable! Although, I've still got to get those two other Dragon Slayers…" Reiki looked up before running into the forest.

"You coward!" yelled Natsu, running towards the trees.

"Natsu, no!" shouted Erza, tackling him to the ground, "Are you crazy? If you follow him into that forest, you'll be lost for sure and then you'll die."

Natsu flinched but stopped moving and allowed Erza to help him up.

"This is the perfect opportunity," said Mira, "Reiki thinks we won't be able to beat him at that great a distance since he's in the forest. We'll activate our Unison Raid and hit him in the forest."

"But how? We can't even see him so how do we hit him?" asked Nero, peering into the dense trees.

"We have to get to higher ground," said Gray, nodding at the volcano.

"Won't you burn to a crisp up there?" I asked.

"It'll be one time," shrugged Gray, "I can take it."

Everyone had their own way of getting to the top of the volcano. Happy flew Natsu up, Erza, Mira, Retina, Aston and Fallen Dark all jumped from rock to rock, quickly going up. Until only me and Gray were left.

I was stumped. I didn't have great hiking abilities or flight ability like everyone else.

Gray noticed me thinking, "Need a lift?"

"Huh?" I said, turning to him and saw his magic circle appear. At first I saw nothing but then, small curved ice shapes appeared from just under Gray's shoulders. As more appeared, they became larger as they spanned out. The end result was Gray standing there with two huge curved shapes over his shoulders detailed with tiny ice feathers at the bottom and larger ones on the top.

"WINGS?" I cried out in surprise, "You can FLY?"

"Actually I just thought of it now," said Gray, "So is that a yes?"

Since I had basically no other choice, I nodded, "Y-Yeah…"

Gray came over and picked me up bridal style. I nearly had a heart attack right there. He said, before he took off, "By the way, I've never done this before so you probably want to find something to grab onto if I happen to fall. You see, my type of ice magic is for inanimate objects like cages and swords. This is my first time attempting some magic like Lyon's which actually have stuff that can move on their own."

"I never knew there were two types," I said, "AND WHY TELL ME THAT? NOW I'M CERTAIN WE'LL FALL!"

"It's useful advice," said Gray, as his wings flapped once, lifting him up into the air. He was already halfway up to the top in two wing beats. I watched in awe. It was just like being with an angel… Except colder.

I snapped back to attention just as Gray said, "Besides, have some faith. I would never let you fall."

As I stumbled around my mind for something to say back, we were already at the top of the volcano where the others were waiting.

"Oh?" said Erza as she looked at Gray's wings, "Not your usual style, Gray."

"Yeah, well…" said Gray as he landed and put me down before his wings disappeared, "It was pretty useful. I learned the basics when Lyon made the wing that time during the Oracion Seis mission. I'll have to thank him next time I see him. Anyway, do you see him?"

I peered through the forest but all I could see were trees and more trees.

"There," said Retina with her abnormal eyesight, pointing to a dark figure darting quickly between trees which, if she hadn't pointed it out, I would have missed completely.

"Your eyesight really is like the hawk," smiled Mira approvingly at Retina before fixing her eyes on Reiki and speaking to us without looking away, "Ready, mina?"

"Yeah," all of us said except the Master who hung back and watched silently, somehow coping in the heat even in his cloak while the rest of us except the fire mages like Natsu and Infra were sweating buckets.

I unhooked Aquarius' key as my strongest Spirit in my opinion and held it at the ready while everyone else assumed their fighting positions.

_Hopefully, nothing bad will happen… _I thought as everyone's magic circles started appearing.


	11. Unison Raid

Chapter Eleven: Unison Raid

"Unison…" everyone said at the same time, "Raid!"

Surprisingly, and unpredictably, a roaring happened in the volcano behind us since we were standing on the edge of it. Then a huge burst of magma came through the volcano. It was long and gave off the biggest heat I have ever encountered in a long time. Then I recognised its shape as being a dragon.

As I was gaping at it, Infra said to me since she was standing behind me, "Sorry, I forgot to tell you I can manipulate magma too."

"EH?" I cried at the massive dragon that towered over us. He was easily fifty times the size of us with glowing magma eyes and glistening scales. I watched as more details from everyone else's magic appeared on it.

Just as Ladin predicted, large feather wings unfurled from his body. Between each feather, I was surprised to see, was a sword, courtesy of Erza. There were nearly hundreds of swords in his wings since they were so huge. Next, huge ice stakes appeared in a circle around the dragon just like Erza's Heaven's Wheel attack, except with ice stakes. I suppose that part was Gray's ice and Aquarius' water combined. His eyes were sharp which I suppose was Retina and he probably had her brilliant aim as well. I hadn't seen any part of Mira, Nero, Ladin or Aston yet.

"SUGEI!" yelled Natsu, his eyes nearly glowing more than the dragon's, "IT'S A DRAGON LIKE IGNEEL!"

"No!" said Gray sarcastically.

The dragon coiled itself a few times and finally fixed his eyes on Reiki, darting through the trees. I was right about the hawk's eyesight. The dragon, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on Reiki, moved around in a circle, going faster and faster until it was just a blur of crimson red. Then a circle began to appear, small details going into it.

"A magic circle?" I said in surprise, "Our dragon can have magic circles?"

"Why not?" said Nero, shrugging, "We just made history by doing Unison Raid with eleven people. Now anything can happen."

From the dragon's enormous magic circle, the biggest I'd ever seen, a huge blast of black burst out because of Mira, purple runes coating the outside- Aston and Nero. At the same time, the ice stakes and swords released and zoomed along on the side of the dark attack.

It was like a lightning strike. I could barely see it. Reiki couldn't possibly dodge it no matter what ability he might have had inside himself.

Sure enough, there was a huge explosion in the forest and a flash of green as Reiki used his Lost Magic obviously. I was confident in my theory however.

The demon attack hit the space which Reiki had activated his magic and pushed against it for a while, neither attack winning. The swords and ice stakes hit the space and pierced it, stuck in mid air.

"The spell works like a wall," said Makarov, speaking for the first time, "If you use magic outside of the space where the Lost Magic is activated, it hits a wall. Only the strongest magic can penetrate the wall. But even so, it has pretty much never happened. The only way the first person who had this Lost Magic was restrained was with special non-magic equipment which prevented magic."

"Not necessarily," I said, "Even basic magic could penetrate this wall depending on how the user is going."

"Nani?" said everyone.

"Watch," I said, nodding at the magic's' clash.

"What is this?" said Erza, "I feel the wall breaking. How?"

"This Lost Magic has two main vulnerabilities," I explained, "The first way to defeat it with non-magic which seems to be impossible at this rate. The second way is more complicated and what we are doing right now."

"We have to defeat it with Unison Raid? Teamwork?" asked Ladin.

"Possibilities," I said, "But mainly… The user of the Lost Magic must sacrifice his or her exact amount of magic to be able to prevent magic as not to waste any magic power. Reiki is already at his limit since he used up a considerable amount of magic power for 'Shadow Storm' and fighting Araluen. I suspected his magic levels would be low so we would defeat him with one strong magic- Unison Raid."

"How does it work again?" asked Natsu, dense as ever, scratching his head.

"I get it," said Erza, "Now Reiki's at his limit… he doesn't have enough magic power to sacrifice to prevent Unison Raid."

"Right," I nodded, "So, any second now, that wall should break."

"Sugoi, Lucy," smiled Happy, "I NEVER would have picked you for noticing that stuff."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, frowning before remembering he had complimented me first, "And thanks… I guess." I gave a small smile, realising I'd gotten just that bit stronger.

Just then, there was an almighty roar and the sound of the smashing of glass like some invisible glass wall broke. I also heard Reiki's furious yell.

Everyone looked over as the combined attack sent up smoke and a huge explosion, shaking the whole earth.

"Ahhh!" I yelled, nearly falling into the volcano.

A hand grabbed my arm and I opened my eyes to see Gray. He smiled, "Don't worry. I won't let you fall."

I gave a nervous smile back, "A-Arigato…"

He helped me back up as the shaking of the earth ceased. We all peered through the thick cloud of smoke. Retina, of course, was the first to notice something, "There are a lot of blown up trees but it is clear Reiki is defeated."

"I hope so," said Erza, sinking to her knees, "I'm exhausted…"

"We should probably wait for the Council to get here," said the Master, "They will take care of this mess. I doubt the small town of Estonia will be able to jail these people on their own. Although, young mages, that was impressive," he grinned, "I'm glad the next generation of mages is going to be pure-hearted, caring people."

"Thanks, Gramps," grinned Natsu, "Demo, can't we have something to eat? I'm starving and Lucy looks even worse."

"Yeah, you're right about that," said the Master, raising an eyebrow at me, "All right, lunchtime!"

"Bento boxes for everybody!" said Mira happily, somehow already back in her usual dress and producing about fifteen bento boxes from somewhere.

"NANI?" I yelled, looking at the fifteen boxes, "How did you know we'd need fifteen boxes?"

"I didn't," said Mira cheerily, "I just thought some people would go back for seconds or thirds."

"So you made FIFTEEN?" said Nero.

"Why not? Now you don't have to hunt for lunch," said Mira, passing the boxes out. I received mine and opened it to see an adorable pattern of colourful hearts, stars and other shapes. It seemed delicious too.

"Let's eat!" I said, about to gobble up my lunch when I noticed Retina and Aston about to go down the volcano.

"Gomen ne," said Retina, "We'll eat later if that's OK?"

"Yeah, sure," said Mira.

I looked at their faces which were that of people in mourning. Then I remembered their friend had just died for them and felt a lot of sympathy for them. I placed down my bento and got up to slide down the volcano.

"Oi, Lucy!" called Infra. I looked over and saw her shaking her head. She said in a quieter voice, "Let them mourn for their friend in peace."

"She's right," said Erza, "I wanted privacy too when Jellal had to go with the Council."

"Don't we all have to mourn for him anyway?" I said, "He died to protect us."

"I'm not saying we shouldn't appreciate what he did for us," said Infra, "I'm just saying his two best friends should be able to cry and make a grave or whatever they're doing without us there staring at them. We'll mourn for him later."

"Let her come with us," said Aston suddenly, his head coming up, "Araluen considers her his friend as much as he does us." He looked over at me, "Come on."

I jumped silently to the rock just beneath the edge where Aston must have been sitting, listening.

"Actually, Retina wants to talk to you about something," said Aston, leading me down the volcano so I only stepped on the steady, flat rocks, "It's what we're going to be doing after this experience."

"She's not destroying Dark Guilds anymore?" I asked.

"Well, she and I will talk to you about it. You've already become a special friend to us. You're one-of-a-kind, Luce."

I smiled, "Thanks."

Retina was waiting at the bottom of the volcano, "Good, you're here. Come on, we'll go into the forest."

"Is that safe?" I asked, thinking about the unconscious Dark Guild leader in the forest.

"He's dead," said Aston bluntly, "There's no way in hell someone lives after that attack. Besides, we can't sense him anymore."

"OK," I said, going after them. We sat in a shady spot underneath one of the largest trees I'd ever seen. Three trees had their bases in the ground so it was like a triangle but as they grew, their tops connected. The branches intertwined each other and was the most unique and beautiful thing I'd ever seen. There was also a space in the middle of the three trees where we could sit.

"Araluen and I played here all the time when we were little," said Aston, "We called it our friendship tree," he laughed, "Then Retina joined our duo and the third tree grew and intertwined itself."

We went and sat in the space in the middle. It was nice and cool there after the heat of the volcano.

"So…" said Retina, "You remember I was really freaked out after that fight with the shadows, right?"

"Yes," I said, "Why were you?"

"Well, first we have to explain about the Shadow World," said Aston.

"Shadow World?" I said.

"Yeah," said Aston, "It's similar to your Spirit World. Reiki's fighting style is with the shadows. He can summon any shadows to fight for him, like your spirits."

"But, he had no keys, no contracts or anything," I said.

"People who summon shadows don't need keys or contracts," said Retina, "You just need a place with shadows and incredible magic power and control otherwise you could end up with wild shadows that kill you. Anyway," she went on, seeing my face, "like Spirits, Shadows have their own personalities and they can choose to not be summoned or not to fight. They're also the exact copies of their human form."

"Exact copies?" I said, "Also, everyone can summon shadows?"

"Right, they're shadows," said Aston, "They're made to be identical to whatever they're a shadow for. In this case, it's us. They have the exact same body shapes, abilities and personality. And, I suppose everyone could if they had the magic power and control. Also, whatever happens in the human world happens in their world."

"Really?" I said.

"Yep," said Retina, "Our worlds are exact copies. So, that means, when a human dies, their shadow also dies. If the human is alive, the shadow is also alive."

"OK," I said. It made sense. If their solid shape died, of course the shadow would also die since it wouldn't have anything to be a shadow of.

"Remember that shadow that came out and stopped shadow-Retina from fighting me?" said Retina.

"Yeah," I said, "The one that came out by force?"

Retina nodded, "That shadow… was Freya's."

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**I love suspenseful ends, hehehe… Anyways, I've tried to put in some little moments of Gray and Lucy… The Gray-and-Natsu-battle-over-Lucy will come along soon after they return to Fairy Tail so don't worry~ **

**As always, please review!**


	12. Friendship

Chapter Twelve: Friendship

"Freya?" I cried, "You said she was dead!"

"No, I said she was _dying_," said Retina, emphasising exaggeratedly, "There's a difference. Of course she was stabbed in a crucial area and I would expect she's most likely dead but miracles happen, you know. She might have escaped by some chance. Anyway, it seemed my shadow thought I had deliberately left Freya to die and tried to kill me of course. But then Freya's shadow came out to tell her I was taken against my will. Then my shadow apologised and Freya's shadow said 'Gomenasai, my daughter. But we will meet again soon.' Speaking of such, what did your shadow say to you?"

"Edo…" I said, thinking back, "'Gomenasai… what you have is rare, don't lose it', I think. What did she mean by that?"

"We don't know," said Aston, shaking his head, "Shadows… they have a gift for predicting things that _will _happen and they try to give warnings to people involved. Of course, not everyone is capable of summoning them so shadows try to warn them in other ways such as dreams. People commonly mistake these warnings as nightmares but it's just shadows trying to alert them of coming dangers. That's why in your nightmares, there is often shadows or something dark."

"I see," I said, "Wait, how do you two know so much about this stuff?"

"I learned everything off Aston," said Retina.

I looked at Aston curiously.

"Well…" said Aston, "Retina told you I was in Demon Cross since I was five. Have you ever wondered where I was those other five years?"

"The Shadow World," I said.

Aston nodded, "When I was born, I was only one when my parents died in an accident. Before that though, I always saw Miya, the Shadow World's former princess. She appeared all the time, invisible to everyone but I saw her. I always played with her and loved her. So when my parents died, she took me in and I lived in the shadow world. The only problem was, humans were strictly forbidden from the Shadow World. I lived in hiding for four years, Miya taking care of me. Finally, I was found out and Miya died for her crime. Her last wish was that I would live and since Miya was the princess and was loved dearly by the citizens, her wish was respected and I was dumped into Demon Crosses. In those four years though, I learned everything about the shadows."

"So you can summon them?" I asked, awed by the story. These people were so strong and yet they had such pasts.

Aston nodded, "At first I nearly got killed by the shadows since I was the reason their princess died but then they took a liking to me," he smiled, "They're like older brothers and sisters, always taking care of their stupid younger brother," he laughed as he referred to himself.

"So," I said, "You two… what are you going to do now after this?"

"Search for Freya," Retina immediately said, "I will definitely find her and repay her for everything she's ever done for me." She tossed a lot of green jewel pieces on the grass carelessly, "I've lost the eye magic. And Aston's lost the rune magic. We'll definitely get stronger and stronger everyday on our own so we can one day be strong enough to protect those we love like Freya and Miya did."

"I'm tagging along with Retina," said Aston, "I've learned a few things from you Luce. Now whenever I summon the shadows, I'll definitely fight alongside them. I'll always love the shadows. Maybe I'll join a guild along the way."

"That's great," I smiled.

"Hey, you three!" yelled Natsu's familiar voice, "We're leaving, Luce! We have to go back before the Estonia people ambush us for blowing up their trees and the Council arrives!"

"R-Right!" I said, getting up. I turned to Aston and Retina, "Good luck on your journey, you two!"

"You too," they both said, "Thanks for everything, Luce."

I smiled before running after the Fairy Tail mages, "Oi, what happened to Infra and that?"

"They left already," said Erza, "They didn't want to bother with the goodbyes and everything. They miss you already though, don't worry."

"I miss them," I said and meaning it, "But it's nice to be back with everyone."

"Don't think you're getting off the hook, missy!" said the Master sharply, "You still made everyone worry over your whereabouts and whether you were still breathing or not! Wait till we get back to the guild; mark my words!"

"Now he actually sounds like an old man," muttered Gray and the rest of us laughed.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"We're back!" shouted Natsu, running through the doors of Fairy Tail.

"Mina!" yelled Levy, greeting us at the door, "And Lucy too! Where have you been, huh?" she demanded of me.

"Visiting relatives," Erza cut in before I could speak.

"You didn't even tell us, Lucy!" said Juvia, appearing beside Levy.

I was about to tell her nothing terrible happened when the Master walked past, "Come on Lucy."

I stiffened and walked after him sheepishly, "Hai…"

For the next thirty minutes…

"Gomenasai!" I said, bowing for the thousandth time, "Hontou gomenasai!"

Makarov was glaring at me the whole time, spouting off his lecturing so fast, I could barely make out what he was saying.

Finally he was all out of breath after hollering at me for half an hour. He sat down in the nearest chair, sighing and pressed his fingers to his head, "Well, I suppose you did make it back safe and sound. You helped two people realise they should use their own abilities so the mission wasn't entirely pointless. But you have learned from this experience, right?"

"Yes sir," I said.

"All right. I think I've covered everything now. Dismissed."

I walked out, finally giving my vocal chords a break from saying 'gomenasai' over and over again.

"Was it as bad as it sounded?" asked a male voice. I looked up eagerly but only saw Natsu. No offence, I did like Natsu but he didn't quite give me the same adrenaline rush as Gray except if Natsu got us in trouble and adrenaline soared because of fear. Still…

"Yes," I groaned, "Did you hear how many times I had to say 'sorry' so he would be satisfied?"

"You scared us all, Luce," said Happy.

"I know that," I said, "Do you think the Master didn't point that out?"

"Right. Sorry," said Happy.

"No, I'm sorry," I said, sighing, "I'm just still pretty hungry." Since being half-starved in Demon Crosses barely three days ago, my stomach decided to upgrade the amount of food I could take and I was hungry most of the time now, making me grouchy.

"Still?" said Natsu, raising an eyebrow, "Well, let's go out and eat then! There aren't any great missions today."

"OK," I shrugged.

"Um…" said Happy.

"Nani?" asked Natsu.

"I actually wanted to spend some time with Charle today…" said Happy, looking down sheepishly.

"Go on," said Natsu, smiling, "I'm a friend, not a prison guard."

"Thanks, Natsu!" said Happy eagerly, flying towards Wendy and Charle.

We walked a couple of streets down and found a nice sushi restaurant. We went in and sat down at the counter. The place was fairly busy so the chefs weren't really paying attention to us.

After Natsu ordered for both of us, he turned to me, "So… you and Gray… what's going on with you two? You used to be good friends but now you hardly look at each other. Did you have a fight or something?"

"No," I answered, "And we're not avoiding each other; we're just spending some time with some other friends. Balance, you know." Actually, the real reason I never even looked in the direction of Gray anymore was because I couldn't bear seeing that pain on his face that was most probably because of me.

"Well, yeah," said Natsu, "But I thought the point of 'balanced' was supposed to be that you still spent time with person A while also spending time with others. You and Gray never spend more than five minutes with each other anymore. It's pretty noticeable, even on the train ride home. Every time one of you moved, the other would adjust so you two were looking in directly opposite directions. It was weird and Erza and Mira were pretty worried too."

"There's nothing wrong between us," I assured him as the chef placed down two plates of sushi in front of both of us. I immediately dug in, wanting to direct this conversation as far from Gray as possible, "Good sushi."

"Seriously, Lucy?" said Natsu as he put a piece of raw salmon in his mouth, "You're falling for and using all the oldest tricks in the book. But since you're uncomfortable talking about Gray which is weird because you two are just friends or so you claim; I'll change the subject."

"Thank you," I said.

"That was a hint, Lucy," said Natsu.

"It's just a personal issue, Natsu," I said, "The point is I'm just avoiding him until the whole issue just becomes forgotten. I don't have the guts to go up to him and talk about it so that's the only other solution."

"What issue?" asked Natsu, "I have no idea what the heck you are talking about."

"AN issue. I think I'd like to just keep the issue between us so, sorry and I hope you understand."

"Yeah, it's all right," grinned Natsu, "If you seem stressed any other time, we can always come back here."

"Yeah, sure," I smiled. I'm not sure why, since I hadn't actually confessed anything, but I seemed to be less stressed and calmer around Natsu and talking with him. He seemed to have a sort of happy aura around him which naturally calmed everyone around him.

"So I have to go and meet with Happy," said Natsu, "He's probably finished his time with Charle now."

"OK," I said, "Go."

"See you, Luce!" said Natsu, putting some money on the counter for both of us and dashing out. I looked at the money and sighed, taking out an extra 500 yen, _you didn't pay enough, baka…_

I walked out and thought I had nowhere to go. I could just go back to the guild or my apartment but both those places had a chance of Gray being there. Instead I decided to relax in the hot springs instead. Gray wouldn't be there since he probably never did relax in hot springs and I would be in the female's section. I started walking over there.

_At the hot springs…_

As I wrapped a towel around myself, I folded my clothes neatly and put them safely away so no one could break in and steal my gold keys. Hey, it could happen, right? As I walked towards the hot spring, a staff member nodded politely in my direction but then stopped me, "Excuse me, miss? We would appreciate you leaving precious items behind with your clothes."

"Nani?" I said. I looked down and noticed Natsu's 'N' necklace still glimmering on my throat. I hadn't even realised I was wearing it the whole time, even during the Demon Cross encounter, "Oh. Thank you," I said as I turned back around to the clothes room, putting the necklace inside the pocket of my skirt.

_Wait… _I thought, lifting out the necklace again. Since I had just talked about 'balance', I wanted to check on my relationship with Natsu to make sure I was still on good terms with him. He was my first friend when I joined Fairy Tail after all. Maybe I had been neglecting him and taking his friendship for granted lately. I remembered Gray had said the necklace would be sparkling if the relationship was still working and the pendant would dull if the relationship wasn't working.

The pendant shone like diamonds.

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**Just a little note here~ I have nothing against Natsu and Lucy together; I just happen to like Lucy with Gray more. :)**


	13. Cana

Chapter Thirteen: Cana

I woke up earlier than I expected. The sun shone through the window and nearly blinded me. I groaned, rolling over onto my side. The hot spring was relaxing but then right after that was finished; I went back to worrying about everything. I kept thinking about Gray and how I'd hurt him so much. Then I figured it would be fine since I would have a talk with him about it; but then I'd have to see the hurt in his face and the cycle would repeat in my head.

"I barely got any sleep," I grumbled, rubbing my tired eyes. It was going to be bad for my health if I didn't get this problem solved soon.

_I will definitely talk to him about it today! _I decided. Then, if it didn't work, at least I could sleep tonight knowing I'd tried. I hopped out of bed and started getting dressed, did my bathroom stuff and my hair and figured I'd eat in the guild.

As I walked to the guild, it seemed lively and loud as usual which I usually loved. Today though, I tuned out everyone and started looking around for the familiar navy-haired mage.

_There he is! _I finally saw him, sitting at a table and talking with the other members. He turned and met my eyes for the briefest second. At that moment, everyone else seemed to disappear and I only saw Gray. And in that brief second, all I saw was pain.

I ran out of the guild. I really couldn't even look at him without seeing that raw pain perfectly clear on his face. As I ran, I suddenly bumped into someone.

"Oof!" I said as I hit someone and automatically said, "Gomenasai!"

"Hey, Lucy," said a cheerful voice, "Ne, are you OK?"

I opened my eyes and saw Natsu looking at me concernedly.

"Natsu!" I said, suddenly remembering his invitation, "Hey, come on, we're going to that sushi place right now."

"EH?" said Natsu, "What happened for you to be charging out of the guild like that anyway?"

"That doesn't matter; let's go," I said, practically dragging him along.

"Lucy's gone scary, Natsu," said Happy.

"I have not!" I said as we went into the sushi place and I sat down at the counter, "Mister, I want one of everything on your menu!"

"Lucy, are you OK?" asked Natsu with wide eyes, muttering, "I think my wallet's going to be really empty after this…"

"I'm paying," I said as the first sushi came, "Besides, you eat when you're nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" asked Natsu, helping himself to some sushi.

"Because… of Gray," I finally said, "He's making me really nervous and our relationship is a mess right now."

"OK…" said Natsu, "You know, I actually have no idea what the hell you're talking about since you won't actually talk about anything but…" he put his hand over mine on the countertop, "It'll be OK; whatever you're worrying about."

His hand felt warm over mine; comforting.

"Arigato," I smiled and I meant it. Then, after a second of hesitation, I hugged him, "Really, Natsu, thanks. It really means a lot to me."

Natsu seemed a bit surprised at first but then smiled and hugged me back, "What are friends for?"

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**Gray's POV**

I came into the guild and everything was as it normally was. Everyone shouting over the top of one another, huge barrels of alcohol being passed around except unlike most days, I didn't exactly appreciate the noise anymore. I had barely slept last night, worrying about Lucy. She was nearly killed by a Dark Guild if not for three rebellions that I owed my life to and she most probably hated me. Were both those incidents because of me?

"Oi, Gray!" shouted Cana, waving from a large table consisting of about half the guild, "Over here!"

I smiled and went over to sit at a spare spot. Everyone was yelling and arguing in a joking matter.

"You and onee-san going on a mission?" said Lisanna, wide-eyed at Erza.

"Yeah," said Erza, "Starting tomorrow, we're leaving on an S-Rank mission for two weeks! It's going to be exciting. She and I, despite everything, were quite a duo two years ago."

"Like me and Natsu?" I said, lifting my head. Everyone stared wide-eyed at me.

"Nani?" I asked, really having no idea what they staring at.

"What's with those bags under your eyes?" asked Jet, "You hardly get them, man. Didn't you sleep well last night? It wasn't very hot..."

"Just, nightmares," I lied.

"What kind of nightmare would keep you up at night?" asked Erza, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Just nightmares, don't worry about it!" I said, "I'll sleep better tonight."

_If I'm not thinking about her, _he mentally tacked on at the end, _Lucy… how am I supposed to bear it if she hates me now?_

"Hey, Gray, are you OK?" asked Alzack, "You look like you're in pain."

"It's nothing," I said, pretty frustrated that the pain could show so easily on my face.

I looked away and saw for a brief second, her. She had just come in, I assumed and her eyes widened at the sight of me. In that same second which seemed more like a year, pain was clearly visible on her face too. Before I could say something, she turned around and ran out of the guild.

"Was that Lucy?" said Freed, looking at the doors just as they shut again, "What was the matter with her?"

"I… have to go," I said, getting up and running out as well.

"Oi, Gray, wait a minute—!" said Levy, worry in her voice.

"Leave him," said Erza, taking a bite of shortcake, "It's better we don't get ourselves involved with their business."

As I burst out of the doors, I looked around for her but she'd already disappeared somewhere.

_Where could she have gone? _I thought, unable to take it anymore. If Lucy had been in pain trying not to hurt my feelings, I'd talk to her today so she could get all her feelings out. Then at least one of us wouldn't be hurt anymore.

I went into the nearby stores and restaurants, asking if they'd seen a blonde Celestial mage. All of them shook their heads as they were too busy managing their stores or restaurants to take much notice of anything else.

As I ran around half the town, I kept rehearsing speeches in my head, although all of them had their faults like it would sound like I was accusing her or generally sounding like a jerk. Finally, I just decided I'd wing it when I saw her.

As I ended up in a familiar street just near Fairy Tail, I stopped to catch my breath. Who knew one person would be so hard to find? I started walking so I could cool down. It wouldn't be the ideal conversation I'd like to have if I was sweating a waterfall and panting every five words. Then a voice sounded through the air, "Gray!"

I looked up eagerly but saw it was just Cana. She ran across one of the bridges over the river. I smiled but as she got near, she started resembling a bomb about to explode, furious with a glare that could sink the Titanic.

"Cana?" I said kind of nervous now.

"GRAY FULLBUSTER!" yelled female mage, jumping as she got near me and punching me in the head with the strength of a rhino.

"Ow!" I yelled, grabbing my head which I was sure an egg was now, "What the hell was that for?"

"What the hell were you doing suddenly running out of the guild like a crazy man?" countered Cana, "You know, ever since you got back from your 'holiday' which I never actually believed but anyway, you've been acting really strange and having a lack of sleep. Then you randomly run out of the guild like you were on fire! Isn't it natural for me to worry?"

"I thought Erza told you to stay out of it," I said, appreciating Cana's concern but I just really needed to find Lucy.

"When do I ever listen to anyone?" said Cana, "Anyway, you don't have to tell me what your problem is in case it's private but I'm worried about your health and well-being. Also, if you need anyone to talk to, I'm always here."

"You don't need to worry," I said, "I can take care of myself; I have for almost a decade."

Cana sighed and rolled her eyes, walking past me, "Fine; sorry for worrying," she said sarcastically. Then she sighed again, sounding less sarcastic this time and turned around, looking at me, "I was friends with you ever since we were little, Gray. You were there for me when I had no one else. Ever since then, I always felt I had owed you something. I wanted to be there for you when I thought you had no one." With that, she turned back around and walked away.

I groaned. Cana was one of my best friends but I didn't need anyone's sympathy right now. I just needed to find Lucy and work things out.

_Where the hell is she? _I thought, turning around to a sushi place when a blonde caught my eye.

She had her back to me but her hair was tied up in a ponytail, same blue and white clothes, black boots, and a belt with Celestial keys. There could be no doubt. A person next to her also caught my eye. He was pink-haired, had a white scarf and same clothes to a certain Dragon Slayer.

_Natsu? _I thought, clearly baffled. Lucy, even from her back view, didn't seem nearly as stressed or hurt when she was with me. She smiled and talked with Natsu who smiled and talked back. On the countertop, I could see, Natsu's hand was laid over Lucy's.

_What…? _I thought when suddenly, Lucy hugged him. Even if hugs were things you saw everyday, in this particular scene, it seemed intimate and something I shouldn't have been spying on. I took a step back when they pulled apart and their twin necklaces moved about. They shone as if the sun's brightness had somehow been transferred into them.

My hands shook until the shaking spread to the rest of my body. Had Lucy loved Natsu all along? She hadn't loved me to start with? It would explain why she had gone half-insane over the pictures in Sorcerer's Magazine some time ago and why she was so awkward around me now. I had confessed I loved her but she loved Natsu?

It wasn't as if she was exactly cheating, not that I thought hugging was cheating, since we never had a relationship to start with and she had told me she didn't love me in that way. But I felt betrayed in a way. Like those times we had kissed and she was pining for Natsu the whole time?

I breathed in and out for I didn't even know how many times until I started to feel whole again. I walked away from the restaurant and towards the forest. As I neared, I saw Cana, sitting in the shade of a tree, probably about to take a nap. She opened an eye as I came near, "Gray?"

"You were right," I said, standing in front of her, "I have no one." Natsu, despite everything, was one of the best friends I could have ever asked for. And now he wasn't there. Erza was a close friend as well but she wasn't going to be here for a while as of tomorrow. Neither was Mira. Happy would most probably be with Natsu.

"I saw the scene inside the sushi place," said Cana, "I pieced some of it together. So… what can I do for you?"

"Well, can we go talk…?" I said. Everyone always said it made you feel better if you got some stuff off your chest. Cana was a woman as well so she could give me advice from a woman's perspective.

Cana looked at me emotionlessly and I realised I had pushed her away when she had offered me help the first time. Her face was hard as stone and her look was as cold as ice.

"Uh…" I said awkwardly, as she continued to stare at me unblinking like the Queen might have stared at Snow White.

Just as I thought about waving my hand in front of her face since she wasn't moving at all, not even breathing or blinking, she sighed and closed her eyes for a second. When she reopened them, she smiled and I finally felt safe, "Sure, let's talk. Friends always have to be there for each other, right?" she stood up, "So where do you want to talk?"

_Ice Make… _I thought, my magic circle appearing, _Wings._

My ice wings sprouted and moved perfectly. Cana's eyes widened just as I remembered she hadn't seen this before, "What the…? When did you—?"

"I learned it from Lyon. He was… in the same holiday spot." I hadn't lied for a while and I seemed to have begun to suck at it.

"Uh huh," said Cana sarcastically, obviously she hadn't believed my lie, "Well anyway, what's with the wings? Where are we going?"

"To my favourite place," I said, holding out my hand, "Are you coming?"

Cana smiled and took my hand, "Let's go."

"OK," I said, bending down to pick her up bridal style.

"Hey, hey, hey, what the heck are you doing?" said Cana, edging back a couple of steps, "We're just friends thank you very much."

"Picking you up; how else am I supposed to lift you up so we can get there quickly?" I asked, "If you get on my back, you'd squish my wings, if I pick you up around your stomach or back, the slightest loose grip could send you falling to your death so what else am I supposed to do?"

"Fine," said Cana, allowing me to pick her up. As I flew up, Cana looked at the surroundings, a huge smile on her face as she took in the beautiful landscape. As she did so, my imagination wandered. _Would I ever feel the same feelings for Cana that I do with Lucy?_

Sure, Cana was nice and confident. She was strong and beautiful but I never saw her more than a friend. A good friend. When we were little, she was my support pole. Someone to keep me from falling and always there for me. If Lucy hadn't been in my life, I might have eventually fallen for Cana.

_But she's not Lucy._


	14. Shadows

Chapter Fourteen: Shadows

**Gray's POV**

I soared over the forest as Cana admired the view. We were nearing my special place now or my happy place; I supposed that described it as well. As I landed on that grassy plateau at the mountain top, I felt strangely nostalgic. I wanted Lucy to be here, we could re-enact that whole bento-eating scene and I would be the happiest man dead or alive. Not that I hated Cana. She just didn't give me the same happiness with her presence than Lucy did.

"It's beautiful," said Cana as I put her down. She walked around confidently, not minding how high up we were, "I didn't even know a place like this existed! How did you find this place anyway?"

"IU…" I said, "After she died… I came to Magnolia looking for these mages that IU said were much stronger than her. In order to make a stand for myself among these supposed mages, I had to get stronger so I trained in the forest and on this mountain. I usually came up here for breaks." I remembered my training clearly. I was only a kid and I was already pushing myself to my limit. One time I recalled I fainted in the snow and nearly froze to death. Just because I was an ice mage didn't make me completely immune to frostbite or whatever else disease you got from extreme cold.

"Oh," said Cana, looking down, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up…"

"It's OK," I said, sitting down on the grass, "Anyway, about that talk."

Cana sat down across from me and seemed to relax herself, "So, whenever you're ready. Firstly, what are your feelings for Lucy? And save all the stammering crap and just come out with it."

"I love her," I said bluntly. I had to, after all, if I didn't want Cana to start yelling. Even the strongest mages couldn't face a woman's wrath and make it out alive.

"Well, I always had a feeling," nodded Cana, "Well, moving on… Where were you ACTUALLY before and don't give me that 'vacation' crap."

"Lucy was taken hostage by this Dark Guild and so Natsu, Erza, Mira and I went over and fought them. We also made new friends and stuff, anyway that's not important."

Cana didn't launch the thousand questions like anybody else would have. Instead, she just absorbed it all calmly and nodded, "OK. Now for the actual information that's actually important. Why are you acting strange ever since you came back from fighting a Dark Guild?"

I explained it all; how I suspected Lucy might possibly hate me for springing the love situation on her and how she probably loved Natsu from the start and every other doubt I had ever felt.

Cana listened patiently, her eyes closed in concentration. When I finished speaking, her eyes opened, "I ask you, Gray… Why would a woman as nice as Lucy hate you for telling her you love her? Your feelings aren't your fault and how could you think Lucy could hate you for something like that? True, maybe she does love Natsu but if she does, you just have to accept that. If she loves Natsu and it somehow works between them," my gut did an unpleasant twist at this, "she'll be happy, right? Isn't that all that matters?"

I froze. I had never thought of it that way before. It was true. How could Lucy, kind, caring Lucy hate anyone for something stupid like that? And she did look happy with Natsu. Wouldn't it make me happy, seeing her happy?

"So you're saying, I should let her go?" I said.

"Only when you clearly see her love for Natsu in that way, if any," explained Cana, "If she does love him, it is best to let her go, Gray. It wouldn't do either of you any good. You would do terrible because you'd be continually pining for a taken girl which would strain both your friendships with Lucy and Natsu. And Lucy would continually feel guilty for your pain and would never feel happy with Natsu, instead thinking she has to be with you in order to spare your feelings. Would you really want to put her through that?"

I gritted my teeth and frowned, closing my eyes in frustration. Everything Cana said made sense. If Lucy happened to love Natsu, I would have to let her go for both of us.

"Sorry Gray," said Cana, reaching out a hand and placing it over mine. I realised for the first time how warm her hand was compared to mine. It was always like that with everyone. My body temperature was cool, not completely freezing but just cooler than everyone else with a hint of warmth. Now with Cana's hand over mine, it was warm and comforting?

"It just has to be this way if things do happen to turn out that way," said Cana. She paused and then added, "'the greatest happiness comes from seeing others you love happy'."

"Nani?" I said.

"It's a saying Juvia told me," said Cana, smiling gently, "She lived off that saying. It's true, don't you think?"

I swallowed the cement block in my throat. My heart was wounded but that had turned into a scar now and the pain faded. The only thing preventing the scar from reopening was the fact that saying might be true and Lucy would be happy.

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**Lucy's POV**

I sneezed suddenly and rubbed my nose, "I hope I'm not getting a cold…" I had finished my sushi meeting with Natsu and going back to the guild. I felt better this time but still unsure if I could look at Gray anymore and be calm. As I entered the guild, everyone looked up.

"Nani?" I asked as Erza immediately swooped onto me and started firing off question after question, hustling me back out of the guild, "Lucy! Where were you? Why'd you suddenly run out? What did you and Gray talk about? Is something the matter with you right now? Are you stressed about something? Do you want to talk about it because—"

"Erza! Erza!" I said, throwing up my hands in defence. We were now outside the guild and the rest of members knew better not to interrupt us with Erza in this state, "It's all right! I'm fine, I swear! And what do you mean? I didn't talk with Gray…"

"He ran out after you dashed off," said Erza, looking at me suspiciously, "And anyway, are you REALLY all right? And don't you dare say 'yes' because every single bad omen possible has happened to me every time you're near me!" she started ticking things off with her fingers, "My cup has cracked, the mirror has cracked, my clothes suddenly tore, I stabbed my finger with the fork, hell, even a bird crashed into the window of the guild when you came in! Plus your mere presence is making my whole body shiver with bad feelings! What is going on?"

"I never would have picked you for the superstitious type," I observed, leaning back slightly as a dark aura surrounded the mage. She was kind of scaring me with her expression, her rant and her dark aura.

"Don't avoid the subject with me, Lucy Heartfilia!" said Erza threateningly.

"I have problems with Gray, OK?" I said, somehow managing to walk around her towards my apartment instead, "I don't really want to talk about it so please don't follow me." I tried to walk calmly but I was actually petrified that Erza would perhaps get a sword out of nowhere and start actually threatening me. But she didn't and I managed to get to my apartment safely. Erza did respect people's privacy and didn't pry into other's business if she couldn't get it out of them the first time. That was one of her best qualities.

As I sat down on my bed, a faint glow appeared in front of me and suddenly, Loke was in my room. I mentally groaned. Of course my Spirits would have to get involved and I would have to talk my way out again.

"Lucy," said Loke.

"I don't feel like talking," I simply said.

"You don't have to," said Loke, "All the Spirits including me have all seen what has happened and know what you're feeling. Well, Aquarius was with Scorpio but they know roughly what's going on. Anyway, I'm representing all the Spirits when I say this and I know this is old advice but the best thing to do is talk with Gray."

"I know but I'm just scared what will happen afterwards and how he would react," I said, burying my face in my hands, "Would he be sad or will he hate me or will I even be able to talk with him or will I run out, scared out of my wits like I did today…?"

_Lucy's Imagination_

"_Gray I'm sorry for hurting you," apologised an imaginary chibi Lucy._

"_You broke my heart…" said an imaginary chibi Gray, "Now I hate you!" He turned around and started walking away._

_*Whole scene shatters like glass*_

_Lucy's Imagination ends_

"Noooooo!" I shouted, clutching my head as the scene repeated again and again in my head.

"Lucy, I think you're going overboard a bit…" said Loke, sweat-dropping and looking kind of scared at my sudden shouting.

"But it could happen right?" I said, sitting back down and looking at Loke. My face must have looked depressing since Loke looked sad looking at me.

"Well, it's unrealistic…" said Loke. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully so I wouldn't have any sudden outbursts again.

"I just wish I could see the future…" I said, suddenly thinking about something.

… _They have a gift for predicting things… _Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I made an excited sound and walked over to the bookshelf. Next to the huge book where I read up Mt Crest in Estonia was a book on magic. I flipped to the index and went to the directed page. There wasn't much information but it was the best I could find.

Loke walked over and looked over my shoulder. I could imagine his eyes widening, "Lucy! What are you—"

"I'm just trying to prevent worse things from happening!" I said as I read the small paragraphs quickly, "If I can just summon one of these shadows, I can see exactly what I have to say or do to fix everything."

"Lucy!" said Loke urgently, grabbing the book from my hands and shutting it tightly, "I know I shouldn't disobey my owner but these shadows are lethal, Lucy. Unlike Spirits, they're extremely violent and they're like assassins except worse. Unless you know what you're doing, you should never try to summon them!"

"If everyone thought like that, no one would have ever attempted anything and half the stuff we have today would have never existed." I took the book back as Loke flinched slightly, "I just have to befriend them and be nice to them right? They have feelings; they'll appreciate the nice actions when only a handful of people are nice to them and don't fear or hate them."

"Well…" said Loke. He couldn't say that shadows didn't have feelings because they did, "Overall, it's still dangerous! Do you know you have a less than 50% chance of safely summoning a shadow? 75% of the shadows in the Shadow World hate humans more than anything!"

"Then I'll just have to rely on that remaining 25%," I replied, reading the paragraphs over, memorising the words, "I'll have to start practising right away to summon one. If only Aston were here… He'd know what to do and what not to do… Ah! Maybe the Master knows something about the shadows!"

"Lucy…" said Loke.

"I'll just ask him tomorrow!" I decided, walking towards the door of the apartment.

"Where are you going now?" asked Loke.

"The library," I replied, "I'm going to see if there are some more books on summoning shadows." I started to walk out but paused and looked back, "I know you're worried, Loke but I'm going to be fine. I promise. I'm sure I'll become friends with the shadows."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," murmured Loke, looking at the ground.

I sighed and walked out. Loke would be fine; he was smart, he'd go back to the Spirit World when he was ready.

"Well, I guess I can't force you to think otherwise. But I never make promises I can't keep, Loke." I shut the door behind me and walked to the library.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**I've always thought that Lucy was very strong in her own way~ I came up with the idea of shadows with her in mind~ Anyways, the main point of this story will happen soon, don't worry but I'm trying not to rush things so be patient, 'kay? ^_^**

**Don't forget to review~**


	15. Special

Chapter Fifteen: Special

**Gray's POV**

It was only the afternoon going into sunset but I reconsidered and changed my mind so many times, it was ridiculous. The thought of losing Lucy, the only one I would ever love, seemed unbearable but then I thought perhaps it was for the best. And the cycle would repeat again. I tried to concentrate since I was flying Cana back to the guild. She had helped me by coming up with options and reasoned with me. I was glad she didn't sugar-coat anything. All I wanted was to know my options and somehow find a way to keep Lucy in my life. But that might possibly not be an option for me anymore.

"Gray, here's fine," said Cana. I looked down and we were hovering over Fairy Hills, the place that most of the girls of Fairy Tail stayed. I hovered over the back of the place since men weren't allowed here and also because I wouldn't want anyone to think I was an angel come to take them into the next life.

Cana hopped onto the ground. She turned around to talk to me before walking in through a back door, "I hope I helped you Gray, even if just a little bit. I want you to know I'll always be here for you. For whatever you want." She walked away and disappeared as she entered the building.

As she disappeared, I flapped my wings and lifted myself off the ground. Cana did help me and I was grateful to her. I just wished there was some other way to solve the whole problem.

As I neared the plateau, I saw a figure waiting for me with pink hair. It was obvious who he was.

"Natsu?" I said as I landed on the ground, "What are you doing here? Wait, how did you even know this place existed?"

"I had to fly up your little picnic basket for you and Lucy, remember?"

I nearly groaned aloud as I remembered that. The first actual kiss we had of our own will instead of following a script.

"Fine, fair enough. What are you doing here anyway? Training?"

"Actually I want to talk to you," said Natsu.

I raised my eyebrows. Usually any 'talking' we did involved or ended in fist fights and Erza would somehow appear out of nowhere and separate us.

"Are you that bored?" I asked.

"Gray, I'm trying to talk to you," said Natsu, sitting down.

"Fine," I said, making my wings disappeared and sitting down opposite him, "What's up? And why isn't Happy with you?" It was a rare sight to see Natsu without his blue flying companion.

"He's spending time with Charle more and more," said Natsu.

"Oh," I said, "Well, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Lucy," said Natsu.

"Huh?" I said, confused, and then my instincts clicked in.

_Wait, is it possible… He loves Lucy?_

"What… about her?" I asked, using every ounce of my strength not to snap at him. If he was implying what I thought he was, I would punch him in the face.

"Have you and Luce got a relationship?" asked Natsu bluntly.

I could never have expected that. I stammered even, I was that surprised, "W-Well, what about it?"

"Lucy's… interesting," said Natsu after he pondered for the right word, "I want to ask her out."

"!" my eyes widened and I could practically feel sick as the words escaped his mouth. My heart was hammering and my brain told me to fight. I realised I was acting like a possessive weirdo but I really couldn't stand the thought of Lucy with someone else and the only solution for my pain was to take it out on somebody else. I launched myself at Natsu, wide-eyed and he only just lifted his arm to block my punch. Still, the force of it caused us to fall on the ground and beat each other up for a while. I kept expecting Erza to appear but she didn't. It was like a street brawl since we didn't use magic, just brute strength.

I managed to give him a punch which made him flinch, allowing me to pin him down, my fist raised to deliver the final blow.

"Why?" I managed to get out. My face had cuts and bruises were on my arms but I had to ask the question, "Why do you want to go out with Lucy?"

"She's interesting," answered Natsu, smiling, "I love her."

"Just because… she's_ interesting_?" I said, glaring. He had no idea how much I loved her. She wasn't interesting, she was beautiful and kind and strong. And yet the best word he could come up to describe her with was 'interesting'?

I raised my fist, nearly overcome by anger. Even if we were best friends in a complicated way, I wanted to punch the daylights out of him right then.

Just as my fist sailed down and nearly made contact with his face, Natsu shouted, "I want to make her happy!"

My fist stopped abruptly and so did my anger. I widened my eyes and surprised sound escaped my lips.

"You want to… make her happy?" I said quietly, getting off him. Natsu sat up and nodded seriously.

"You promise?" I said to make sure. I wanted nothing more than for Lucy to be happy. And Natsu seemed to be the only person who could do that.

"Promise…" said Natsu. It was basically our first real promise since we never did any promises. We usually just let the chips fall where they may. But this time it was more serious since it was Lucy's happiness, something both of us cared extremely for.

"Sure," Natsu finally said, "I promise."

I smiled slightly and turned around, "Yeah. Go… ask her out."

"You sure?" said Natsu, sounding doubtful.

"Yeah."

"OK, thanks," said Natsu. He turned around and jumped down to lower ledges until he reached the ground. When I was sure he was gone, I let the tears begin to fall. I never cried this sadly since IU died. Even the one place which was supposed to be my happy place didn't cheer me up. It just had too many memories now including _her_. I let my wings unfurl from my back and flew away.

_How had everything gotten this complicated? _I thought.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**?'s POV**

As Gray left, I stood up from my hiding spot and sighed. Not even a week ago, I would have been happy if Gray had suddenly become available. But now I knew there was only one person for Gray- Lucy.

And he was about to let someone else have her.

I had talked with Cana and roughly knew the situation. I hadn't believed Lucy loved Natsu from the start. She had told me herself that she loved Gray. I just had to go and see what Lucy said in response to Natsu's question. If it was necessary, I would help them.

I leapt down to lower rocks until I reached the ground and walked through the forest I practically knew by heart since I spent so much time here as a child back to town.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Lucy's POV**

As I entered Magnolia's spacious and well-informed library, I thought about Loke and what he'd said. Were shadows really that hostile? Some shadows would kill a human on sight because we were hated that much? Though I didn't dwell too much on that fact. Every shadow had a good side, I was sure. If I was nice to them instead of hating them like most people, I was sure I could tame the shadows. They were probably just misunderstood.

The librarian looked up from a large stack of books she was stamping and gave me a welcoming nod but allowed me to browse by myself in peace which I was grateful for.

There weren't many people in the library, just a couple of people sitting at desks, reading books and a few looking at books on the shelves.

I passed shelves of non-fiction and fiction books, one large shelf for reference books and a couple of shelves with children's picture books. Finally I reached a shelf with books on magic and history. There was only one person at that shelf besides me. A teenager who looked about the same age as me or a couple years older. I didn't bother him and went to look at the books.

Little metal name-plate like things had the names of different kinds of magic and magic equipment engraved on it: _Lacrimas, Dragon Slayer Magic, Lost Magic, Beast Take-Over Magic, Summoning Magic…_

I paused and looked at the section where the Summoning Magic name-plate was. It had mostly books on Celestial Spirits and very few on anything else. I picked out a thick-ish book on all kinds of summoning and flicked to the index. Finally I found 'Shadows' there and went to the page. It had general information about shadows but nothing on saying how to summon them.

_Nani? _I thought, reading the paragraphs over. There was no information about any summoning techniques or anything.

I checked the other books. They all had the same thing, small paragraphs of information and no summoning techniques. I sighed and shut the book, muttering aloud, "Why couldn't Aston be here right now…?"

"Eh?" said the teenager next to me, turning around. I recognised him immediately, "ASTON!"

"Shh!" said Aston, looking over his shoulder as if the librarian would come bustling around the corner and kick us out.

Which she did.

"Ow…" I said, my butt sore when we landed on the stone outside. Aston laughed since he landed on his feet and stuck out a hand to help me up.

"Who knew I would see you here," laughed Aston.

"I live here!" I said, holding his hand as he pulled me up, "You're the one I'm surprised to see here! Where's Retina?"

"We decided to go separate ways," said Aston, "With her goal to find Freya and mine to just travel along and join a guild, we separated but we're keeping in touch. We'll meet up sometime. Besides, since you told me about Fairy Tail, I wanted to see it for myself."

"I see," I said. I looked away sheepishly, "Um… I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it?" said Aston. We began walking towards around town as we talked, going in the direction of the guild.

"It's about the shadows…" I said, "Can you… um, teach me how to summon them?"

Aston raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. I was prepared to start defending my decision when he ranted on about dangers but surprisingly he didn't.

"No, Lucy, I can't."

"Look," I said, stopped walking, exasperated from all this danger of summoning shadows, "I don't care about all these dangers of shadows, and I want to learn it because it's really important to me. Just, please, Aston."

Aston waited until I was finished, "I can't Lucy. Literally, I can't teach other people how to summon shadows."

"Nani? Why not?" I asked.

"The ability to summon shadows…" explained Aston, "It's something you're born with. You're born with a unique Spirit, different than normal humans that give you the ability to summon and communicate with Shadows. As well as that, you need a great magic power and control to control them. If you have all of these qualities, you are recognised to be a good master or mistress for all of the Shadows and they will obey and respect you. Then, after you have been approved as a good master or mistress, Shadows will then choose you to be their master/mistress. Shadows that like you will choose to follow you and fight for you. And that's that. The most common thing people don't have is the unique Spirit which allows you to summon the Shadows at all. Only very few people are born with it and it can't be taught so I can't teach shadow summoning to you. Or you could end up with the Spirit but no magic power or control so then you have wild shadows that kill you."

"It sounds… like a trial," I said. How could anyone have all of those things? I suddenly respected Aston that bit more.

"Yeah. That's why it's so dangerous," said Aston, "You don't know if you have the Spirit or enough magic power and control so you have to take a very high risk when summoning them with a chance of getting killed. That's why Shadow Summoning Magic is extremely rare because no one wants to take that sort of risk. I just happen to be a lucky one."

"But… Reiki was able to summon shadows," I said.

"I never said the Spirit was necessarily used for good," said Aston, "It doesn't matter how evil you are. As long as the Spirit is in you, Shadows will follow you."

"I thought you said Shadows chose who they wanted to follow," I said, "Who would choose to fight for evil? And I thought Shadows hated humans?"

"I suppose Reiki fed them lies about you guys, making them want to fight you therefore choosing Reiki's side. But now he's dead, they're with me. And the myth about Shadows hating humans came from Shadows killing humans. Shadows killed humans who simply had no control over them so everyone assumed Shadows hated humans."

"So, that's all a myth?" I said.

"Pretty much," shrugged Aston, "So, that's about it about shadows. Basically, you need control, magic power and the Spirit for shadows to respect and obey you if they choose to follow you. If you just summon a Shadow recklessly, it may turn wild and try to kill you. Although…" he walked on ahead, "I have a good feeling about you Lucy. You definitely have the ability to summon Shadows. You just have to awaken the ability. Somehow."

He walked ahead, lifting a hand, "See you."

After he disappeared from view, I started blinking and staring at my hand, _I might have the ability to summon shadows…?_


	16. Stargazing

Chapter Sixteen: Stargazing

**Lucy's POV**

As I walked along, I really had no idea if what Aston said was true. I could summon shadows? If we were talking about some Spirit, I was sure that Natsu, Erza, Gray or someone would have it, right? I was never anything that made me stand out, except for my last name which really didn't count since I never earned any of that stuff myself. But I never would have picked me for some super-rare type of magic.

_Well, if it is true, I have to start practising on it… _I thought. Aston had said I had to 'awaken' the power. Maybe if I worked hard on it, something might happen?

With that thought, I went straight to the forest outside of town. The area was quiet and peaceful which was good for concentrating. Also, no one was around so if I did do something wrong, I wouldn't have any injured people on my hands. I picked a shady spot with plenty of shadows where I could concentrate and the shadows would be able to appear if they wanted to.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, I closed my eyes and stayed perfectly silent, concentrating and gathering my magic power, like I would do to summon a Celestial Spirit. Then, when I felt I gathered enough, I let it all out.

A huge explosion of light erupted but as soon as that disappeared, I saw nothing had changed in the area. No Shadows, not even wild ones.

_It _is _only the first try, _I convinced myself, taking another deep breath. But before, I could start gathering some more magic power, a glow intruded my eyes. I opened them and saw a familiar mermaid sitting on a rock in front of me.

"Aquarius?" I said in disbelief, staring at my Celestial Spirit who had come out by herself.

"No, Peter Pan, who do you think?" said Aquarius.

_Yep, definitely Aquarius._

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Reminding you what you should already know," said Aquarius snappily, "Which is what the heck are you doing, releasing considerable amounts of magic power? It's wasteful and it also makes you exhausted! Do you know what could happen if you faint out here from using up all your magic power so quickly? Any decent creature could kill you in less than a minute!"

I sighed and ignored her, closing my eyes again, hoping she'd get the hint and go back to the Spirit World.

Freezing water splashed in my face and I yelped in surprise.

"Are you not listening?" demanded Aquarius, lowering her urn. She glared at me while I squeezed my hair to get the water out, "I had to cancel and date with Scorpio because of this so you'd better be grateful!"

"I intended to stop before I fainted," I replied, squeezing my hair on the left side, "I'm not that stupid."

"Hm… really?" said Aquarius sarcastically.

"AND WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" I cried.

"Nothing," said Aquarius, leaning forward a bit and resting her face on her propped up hand, her elbow resting on her tail, "But, since I've been with you long enough to know you do reckless things and this is one of those things, I'm staying here in case you do faint."

"I won't!" I protested.

Aquarius smiled slightly at me. A rare thing, for her, "We'll see."

I glared at her (which didn't seem to affect her in the least) but decided it wasn't worth it and instead concentrated on my magic.

As time passes…

I hadn't even realised it was the middle of sunset when I bothered to pay attention to the time again. I had been concentrating so hard, it could have been two in the morning and I wouldn't know. Now that I started paying attention to myself again, I was exhausted and drained of magic power since I used too much all at once and it couldn't re-supply itself quick enough. I panted and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. I hadn't made any progress in the day. I just had eruption after eruption of light with no Shadows. They simply didn't like me or there was something I was doing wrong.

Aquarius hadn't moved at all from her position until she had me convinced she'd turned to stone. But then she moved, "Lucy, you're exhausted. Take a break for today."

I immediately straightened up, "One more try, please? And, more importantly, aren't you in pain or something from being here so long?"

Aquarius seemed to smile slightly for a second but I blinked and it was gone. She looked sternly at me to let me know it'd definitely be the last time, no question, "Fine. ONE. And this is nothing. I'm just concerned about you since you'll definitely overdo it!"

"Thank you," I said gratefully, closing my eyes. I gathered every ounce of magic I could possibly wring out from my already pretty much empty body. When I gathered all of that, I held it ready and gathered everything until I was sure not even a speck of magic was left. Taking a deep breath, I let it all out.

An even brighter explosion of light let out over the entire area. I heard Aquarius give a yelp of surprise even.

_Did… I do it? _I thought, my vision blurring as I fought to stay conscious. Tiredness overwhelmed me and I fell to the ground, blacking out.

…

"Lucy! Oi, Lucy, wake up!" called a voice. I tightened my eyes, wanting to not wake up and I wanted to sleep a bit more. I had been deprived of sleep lately so it was actually quite a nice feeling to finally relax and see nothing but pitch black. Though the voice kept intruding my sleep and I finally had to wake up.

Happy was right in my face, staring at me and calling my name, "Lucy! Are you OK?"

"Happy?" I cried, immediately awake. I sat up quickly and found that I was in a bed and in an unfamiliar room. I looked around but I couldn't find anything familiar about where I was. There were bookshelves and tables with various equipment pieces and plants scattered on top of them. The inside looked like a tree house like a fairy might live in because of everything made of wood or something natural, except for the bed and random equipment. Though the house was homely and actually quite relaxing because of the scent of flowers in the air. The light came in from a window next to me. I looked out and saw it was still already dark. I had been out for some time.

"What in the— Where am I? How did I—?" I asked before cutting off, recalling what had happened. I had been trying to summon Shadows for God knows how long and I'd run out of magic power, became exhausted from using it all at once and fainted, "Oh."

Suddenly the door thumped open and a familiar mage ran in, "Lucy!"

"Natsu!" I said.

"Are you OK?" yelled Natsu, dumping some plants on the table and running to my bedside, "What the hell happened to you? Did someone attack you? Who was it?"

"Calm down, Natsu," I said, smiling, "I was just doing some training and accidentally overdid it so I fainted. How did you find me anyway?"

"HUGE explosions of light were going off in the forest near where Happy and I live!" said Natsu, "Your scent was in that direction and we thought someone was attacking you so we ran over and found Aquarius leaning over your unconscious body! I couldn't sense ANY magic power, Luce! I thought you were dead!"

"I wouldn't die that easily, Natsu," I assured him, "Besides that, where am I now?"

"Well, when I checked you were still breathing, I assumed you had been badly injured or something. Aquarius had to go back to the Spirit World because she was in pain."

"I knew it!" I couldn't help but say, "Geez. Why couldn't she just tell me in the first place? I don't want them in pain…"

"Oh, and when she faded away, she told us to tell you 'I was right'," said Happy.

I couldn't help but smile, "Hontou?"

"And also, she says," said Happy, putting on a great impression of Aquarius' angry face, "'you'd better be prepared when I get my hands on you for going back on your word!'"

I shivered. I had fainted when I said I wouldn't. Damn it.

"Anyway," said Natsu, "After I checked your breathing was regular, I carried you over here to Gramps' friend's house."

"Who…?" I asked.

"That'd be me," said a strong, elderly voice. I looked to the entrance and saw an older pink-haired woman standing there. She walked in and sat down on a seat beside my bed. She was rather tall and dressed in a cloak. Her deep red eyes scanned me over for any injuries. She didn't seem to notice any.

"You overdid it on your magic," said the woman, "To state the obvious. I'm Porlyusica."

"Porlyusica-san?" I said as the familiar name hit me, "The one who helped Master and Erza?"

"Yes, you'd be right, Lucy."

"How did you know my name?"

"This boy came in and started screaming for me to 'help Lucy'. It was pretty obvious."

"Oh," I smiled at Natsu, "Well, now that I'm better, can I go?"

"To be honest, I would love nothing more than that," said Porlyusica, "But no. Something about you tells me you'll immediately overdo it and end up right back here. You have to allow your body some time to re-supply the magic power you lost." She walked to the table with all sorts of stuff on it and began using magic to extract things from plants, putting them into a mixture and adding a couple of drops of something I couldn't identify. After giving it a good stir, she walked back to me and handed me the cup, "It is a healing drink. It'll help lift the tired feeling from your body and allow magic to re-supply faster."

"Oh, nice," said Natsu, "Hey, Luce, can I have some—"

"You two, out!" shouted Porlyusica, suddenly breaking her calm appearance, "My limit is only spoiling one human! Get some healing herbs for me if you've so much time!"

"H-HAI!" shouted Natsu and Happy, running out. I nearly dropped my cup in shock and sweat-dropped, "Eh…?"

"Geez," said Porlyusica, back to normal and sitting down again. She observed me closely, which made me somewhat uncomfortable.

"Um, if you don't like humans, I could just go out," I said, "I promise not to overdo it again…"

Porlyusica sighed, "I made a promise with Natsu. I have to admit, I was surprised when he came in here, carrying an unconscious human. At first I refused him, like I do every other human. But then he literally begged on all fours, thinking something was really wrong with you. I have only rarely seen humans go to that extent…" she murmured and I wasn't sure if she was speaking to me or herself, "I decided to help him. He asked me continually if you were all right. Finally I just promised him I would definitely make sure you were in full health before I let you leave. I can't go back on my word now, can I?"

I looked down, not sure what to reply with. My reflection rippled on the surface of the liquid, trembling with every small movement. Natsu would go to that extent for me. He would probably go to that extent for anybody but it seemed quite surprising to me and made me feel good to have such a great friend. I lifted the cup and took a sip.

I nearly spat the drink back out. It was bitter and the taste lingered in my mouth no matter how many times I tried to swallow it down.

"What is in this?" I said.

"Now don't you start complaining," said Porlyusica strictly, "Just drink it all. It will do better for you in the long run."

All I could do was nod and gulped the whole thing down. I nearly gagged every time I swallowed some. Finally it was finished. I handed the cup back to Porlyusica and tried to smile. I hoped it didn't look like a grimace, "Thanks."

Porlyusica seemed a bit surprised at me saying 'thanks'. But she quickly recovered, "You're welcome." She stood up and went to the table, "The recovery will be slow. By the time you're fully healthy, it'll be very late. You'll stay here overnight."

"Demo, if I sleep here, where would you sleep?"

"Who said you were sleeping there?" said Porlyusica.

"Eh?" I said, "Wait, what happened to not letting me leave until I was fully better?"

"You won't be leaving my property," said Porlyusica, "Just sleep in the tree. Natsu can sleep there, too."

"Hontou, Granny?" said Natsu, suddenly appearing in the entrance. He held out some medicinal herbs, "Here."

"Natsu, baka!" I said. A dark aura radiated off Porlyusica and her eyes were just two dark holes. She grabbed the broom leaning against the wall, "What… did you say?"

"I can stay in the tree too? Thanks, Granny!" said Natsu cheerily.

"Really, Natsu?" I cried.

"Hm? Nani?" asked Natsu, looking at me and seeing Porlyusica, whose dark aura turned pitch black at the repetition of the word.

"Granny…?" said Porlyusica threateningly, holding the broom like a sword, "EVERYBODY, OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

The door slammed behind us.

"Why was I kicked out too…?" I said, crying anime-style.

"She's scarier than Erza…" said Natsu. I looked at him, the first time I saw Natsu really scared.

I smiled sympathetically and put a hand on his arm, just below his Fairy Tail mark, "Thanks for caring, Natsu."

Natsu grinned widely, "It's nothing."

The stars were shone in the sky, the moon bright as well. Natsu stood up, "Come on, let's go into the tree. We'll go star-gazing tonight."

I smiled, "OK." I stood up and Natsu, without warning, swept me up in his arms.

"Ah! Natsu!" I cried.

"How else are we getting up otherwise?" asked Natsu, "Happy can't lift both of us and he says you're heavy."

"Aye!" agreed Happy, flying up ahead, "Come on, Natsu!"

"Am I heavy?" I asked.

"No, you're nothing," said Natsu. He ran up to the base of the tree before leaping up and working his way up by small footholds I never would have spotted. Shortly we reached the thickest branch which stretched out so we could clearly see the stars without fear of falling since it was sturdy and thick enough for us to sit on.

As I sat down, my body temperature dropped as it adjusted to the new temperature. I shivered and Natsu noticed. I tried to shrug it off but of course, Natsu didn't forget about it. He looked at his clothes and, figuring he didn't have any clothes to lend me, he touched his scarf once before unwrapping it.

"Eh?" I said in shock when I saw what he was doing, "It's all right, Natsu! You don't have to—"

Natsu silently wrapped the scarf around my neck, "It's all right, Lucy. You're one of my best friends so it's OK."

"Natsu…" I said.

"He llllikes you!" said Happy, sitting on the other side of Natsu.

"Happy!" we both complained.

"You both llllike each other!" Happy said instead.

I ignored them both as Natsu and Happy jokingly argued. I touched the white scarf Natsu lent me. It really did look like dragon scales and gave off warmth that a dragon's fire might give, except cooler obviously. I now understood why Natsu never wore a shirt under his waistcoat. The scarf was so warm no matter how cold the weather was around it.

"Thank you, Natsu," I said.

"Eh?" said both Natsu and Happy.

"Thank you, Natsu," I repeated and leaned over to hug him in a friendly hug. Natsu seemed surprised at my sudden hug. I started to pull away but Natsu wrapped his arms around me and held me there. Happy flew over and lied down on Natsu's and my legs, acting as a bed, "I'm going to sleep now~ nya…"

"OK," I said, stroking his head until he fell asleep. Then Natsu and I watched the stars for a while. I spotted the brightest star and smiled. _Mother… You're still watching over me, right?_

**Gray's POV**

I walked along the stone floors of Magnolia, going for a short walk before heading back and going to sleep. I looked up and looked at the various stars. Like when I was little, I used to search the sky every night looking for the brightest star, believing the brightest would represent IU or my parents looking over me. Finally I spied it. It shone in the sky, brighter than any other star.

_Lucy…_

**Lucy's POV**

_Gray…_

**Both POVs**

_...are you looking at this star right now?_


	17. Realisation

Chapter Seventeen: Realisation

**Lucy's POV**

I opened my eyes and realised it was already morning. The sun shone right into my eyes and I nearly fell off the branch as I tried to lean back, as if the sun would disappear if I did. I noticed Natsu had also fallen asleep.

On me.

I was about to scream my head off but then I noticed his scarf was still wrapped around me. It was warmer now and I didn't have a need to wear it anymore. Natsu had lent it to me and I probably owed it to him to not start yelling at him. Instead, I quietly unwrapped it from around my neck and, lifting Natsu's head slightly, I wrapped the scarf back around him. As soon as I did, the scarf seemed to glint slightly in the sun, as if returned to its proper owner.

Then Natsu scrunched up his eyes tightly before opening them, obviously still a bit sleepy, "Eh, Lucy? Ohayo."

"Ohayo," I smiled. Happy also stirred from his sleeping position and sat up, rubbing his eyes, "Ohayo."

"Ohayo, Happy," Natsu and I both said. Suddenly, I heard the opening of a door and I looked to the side to see Porlyusica stepping out of a door built into the trunk of the tree onto our branch.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I screamed, as she closed the door behind her, "There was a door there?"

"As a matter of fact…" said Porlyusica, walking calmly towards us like she was walking on flat ground instead of balancing on a branch. She reached us in no time and observed me, "Your magic has replenished itself. I'm sure you feel better and are able to leave now."

"Yeah," I said, feeling plenty energized, "Thank you so much for taking care of me."

"You are a member of Fairy Tail," said Porlyusica, "I just did my job." With that, she turned and left.

"Well, we ought to get back," said Natsu, standing up. He seemed wide awake now, despite being tired not two minutes ago, "Come on, Happy."

"Aye sir!" said Happy.

Once Natsu carried me back down, we started walking towards the guild through the forest.

"Ne, Lucy…?" said Natsu as we walked along.

"Nani?" I asked.

"I've wanted to ask for a while but… how do you feel about me?"

"EH?" I cried. I nearly felt a strong sense of nostalgia. Why couldn't I just have a nice conversation with my friends anymore without it turning awkward? Everything in my life lately has all been set around my love life.

"I just want to know," said Natsu. He stopped walking. I also stopped beside him. Happy flew awkwardly in the air, "… Well, I'll just leave you two to it!" he said, flying away.

_Happy… why…? _I thought, my inner self crying anime-style.

"Well… I…" I said, not sure what to say. It was the most uncomfortable feeling I'd ever experienced. I didn't know what to say to him at all.

"Because," said Natsu, stepping a bit closer and held my head in his hands, touching his lips to mine. I widened my eyes in shock at his sudden actions. But his soft lips on mine, it caused a fire to burst to life in my mind. We started moving our lips slightly, completely in sync, like a dance. It was nothing like the play's kiss so long ago. It definitely sparked something in me this time.

_Had I fallen for Natsu? _

He lifted his head and, holding my shoulders, he whispered in my ear, "I love you, Lucy. I will definitely always protect you and make you happy. Will you be mine?"

I nearly had a heart attack, I was so shocked. My heart was beating like crazy, I was sure it was going to fail. The gentle breeze blew my hair and I tried to focus to make sure I made the right decision. Although I had never seen Natsu in that way before or anything close to it, I realised that if it wasn't Gray, it would have to be Natsu. No one else would do it for me except for those two. And Gray wasn't interested in me anymore.

I hugged him tightly, smiling, "Yes."

**Gray's POV**

I had always thought of myself as someone who could endure everything without snapping. IU, my parents, the guilt of having killed IU, I had endured those things pretty well without making myself a complete wreck.

But one little word was enough to make me break.

"Yes," she said, hugging the Dragon Slayer tightly. My fist automatically bunched up, my first reaction to everything that upset me before in the past. Violence, despite being claimed as never the solution to anything, had solved many things for me in the past. Usually, I just had to beat some sense into someone and everything turned out fine.

But this time, I couldn't. Violence wouldn't get me Lucy back, even though I had let Natsu ask her out.

Instead, I ran. Without bothering to sprout my wings, I ran away from it as if the pain would somehow fade when I got away from it. Soon, I was already on top of my mountain without even so much as a pant. Although, the pain never faded even for a second. It throbbed prominently in me, especially in my heart.

There had to be someone that could relieve the pain, just like Lucy had, someone who could make me just as happy as she did. Because that was the only way I was ever going to cope, to find someone just like Lucy.

I realised I wasn't alone on the mountaintop then. There was someone else. I looked up and into the eyes of Juvia.

**Juvia's POV**

I stood on the mountaintop, looking at Gray. I had known about his place for a long time. It was, after all, just above my place. Just a few minutes ago, I had been perfectly calm in the guild, thinking Natsu wouldn't ask her this quickly and therefore, I didn't do anything. But I should have thought Natsu to be more assertive.

_Flashback_

_I sat at the table talking to Erza, Lisanna and some other guild members when suddenly Cana came along and dragged me outside, saying briefly it was 'something important'._

"_Nani?" I asked. Lately, Cana and I had been sort of a team, both trying to get Gray and Lucy back together. _

"_I predicted something with my cards," said Cana and from her face, it definitely wasn't good._

"_What was it?" I asked._

"_Natsu's asked Lucy to be his," said Cana, "And Lucy's said yes."_

_My eyes widened. I'd thought they would've spent some time together as friends first before even considering going to the next stage. Apparently, I was wrong. _

"_No way…" I said._

"_I'm not finished," said Cana, "According to my cards, someone is also really heartbroken and depressed."_

"_Gray," I immediately said, "It must be him, he must have heard them."_

_Cana nodded, "I suspected that as well. I'm going to try to predict further things so you'll have to go and comfort Gray. It must be really tough for him."_

"_Yeah," I nodded in agreement, "I'll go."_

_End Flashback._

Of course, I knew exactly where Gray was going so I made a bubble for myself and flew up here. Despite Cana's prediction, I hadn't thought Gray would be such a wreck. He looked depressed, lifeless and even pale. I never thought a person could look like this with heartbreak alone.

"Gray," I said.

"Juvia…" said Gray. His voice changed, sounding like that of a dying person's last words, "I'll have to find someone… someone just like her…"

I sighed and walked up to him. When I came close enough to him, I raised my hand and slapped him across the face, something I never thought I'd do but I knew I had to. Even so, he was mad.

"What was that for?" he demanded but even in anger, his voice sounded sad.

"There is no one who can replace Lucy in this world," I said, seriously as possible, "And you know it, too. So why are you thinking such things?"

His face finally became a bit more life-like and he didn't look quite as pale, "I can't force her to love me because she doesn't. It's just as Cana said, I have to let her go if she doesn't love me."

"Cana had a point in what she said," I replied, "You would have to let her go **if **she didn't love you."

Gray blinked and realisation dawned on his face. He quickly looked up, surprised, "What do you mean?"

"She thinks you hate her but she still loves you, Gray."

**Lucy's POV**

I walked with Natsu through the forest, holding his hand. We both talked happily as if we were still friends, which I was grateful for.

"Ne, ne, so, should we plan a first date or something?" asked Natsu.

"I guess that makes sense," I shrugged, "What do you want to do?"

"Well, we can just go back to that sushi place…"

"Good," I smiled, "That's OK. What time?"

"Well… 7pm?" suggested Natsu, "We can have something to eat then do something else, I guess."

"OK," I said. Suddenly, I spied someone running towards us. I squinted at the person and widened my eyes, "Cana?"

When she got close, she spied our holding hands and widened her eyes, "It **is **true…" she murmured. Then she talked to me, "Lucy, I have to talk to you."

"What? Cana you're acting a bit strange…" I noticed.

"It'll just take a minute," insisted Cana, taking my other hand and leading me into the bushes, "We'll be right back, Natsu!"

"O…K?" said Natsu, looking confused.

"What is it?" I asked, worried something had happened to my family or maybe I had forgotten to pay my rent and I was kicked out of my apartment or something.

"Are you and Natsu dating?" asked Cana.

"Eh?" I said, confused, "Yes, why?"

Cana swore under her breath and looked me in the eye, "Look, Lucy, there's something you don't know and Gray—"

Suddenly, a rumbling occurred in the clearing where Natsu was waiting. I looked over and immediately ran towards there, Cana following behind. I was surprised to see someone else standing there.

"Juvia?" I cried, looking between her, Cana and a huge cloud of smoke where Natsu was, "What is going on? Is Natsu OK?"

"Juvia would say he is," replied the water mage. As the smoke cleared, I could make out two figures fighting it out. I recognised Natsu and the other…

"GRAY?" I yelled, surprised. Sure I was used to them fighting often before Erza appeared out of nowhere to separate them but this time they seemed more serious, like they actually wanted to kill each other.

"What is going on?" I demanded again of Cana and Juvia since Natsu and Gray weren't paying any attention to me.

"We heard about your situation with Gray," explained Juvia finally, "Cana foresaw what would happen, as in, you would get asked out by Natsu, but we assumed you would say no."

"Of course I would have said yes," I said, "Gray and Natsu are the only two people I would ever consider to go out with."

"But we thought you would say no because you love Gray," said Cana.

"Gray hates me," I said, "I deserted him in the street and rejected him and now I really regret it."

"He doesn't hate you," said Juvia, "In fact… he still loves you. He thought you hated him."

"Nani?" I cried, absolutely surprised. I was certain Gray hated me now. That was the only reason I went out with Natsu because I thought Gray had lost interest.

But he hadn't.

"He still… loves me?" I said, "He thought I hated him?"

Cana nodded, "Yeah. Juvia told Gray you didn't hate him because he thought you did. She also told him you were now Natsu's, so Gray came here to fight with Natsu to determine who would have to give up on you."

"D-Demo…" I stammered, completely confused by it all, "I don't want them to get hurt over me!"

"Then say so!" said Cana, gesturing towards the crazy fight. They had now begun to use magic, "They won't listen to us, only you."

I ran towards them, but kept a safe enough distance away so I wouldn't get caught up in the fight, "Stop it, you two!" I saw they were already injured pretty badly and they would be seriously wounded if I didn't stop them now. Their shouts of pain filled the air around me.

They kept on fighting, completely ignoring me. So much for listening to me. I wonder how Erza dealt with them all the time?

_Stop it… stop it… stop it… _I repeated in my head. They were still screaming in pain and I felt so guilty and such a push to stop them.

"STOP IT!" I finally screamed, when the guilt finally made me snap.

A pitch black and blindingly, shiny white light exploded around me.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**FINISHED! I have been dying to write this chapter for a long time now since everything in this story led up to this when they finally realise the other one still loves them! This is actually the first thing I pictured when I was coming up with this story and then I just worked around that~ **

**As always, please review! **


	18. Alternative Part One

Chapter Seventeen: Realisation (Alternative, Part One)

**WARNING: There is a spoiler ahead if you haven't found out about Cana's family and past yet!**

**Lucy's POV**

Waking up to the bright rays of sun in my eyes, I nearly, tumbled out of the tree as I leaned back like I usually did to stretch when I woke up.

"Ah!" I yelped, grabbing the branch in the nick of time. Breathing a sigh of relief, I hoisted myself back up and realised some_one _had fallen on my lap, squashing Happy.

"Natsu?" I cried. He must have fallen asleep on me last night on my shoulder and by suddenly moving, he had fallen on my lap.

"Ite!" cried Happy as he got squashed by Natsu. He was immediately up and flew above Natsu's head, hitting him with his little fists, "NATSU! I was sleeping!"

I laughed a little at Happy's cute little form, looking more adorable than scary really.

Natsu finally reacted to Happy's little hits and opened his eyes, "What is it, Happy?"

"YOU SQUASHED ME!" accused Happy, puffing little clouds of steam from his head, anime-style.

"Ah, Hontou?" said Natsu. Then he shrugged and went back to sleep on me.

"Don't go back to sleep!" yelled Happy.

"Um, Natsu?" I said, poking his head once. I poked him many times before he finally opened his eyes, "Huh? Lucy?" Then he sat straight up and looked at me observingly before smiling, "I sense good magic power! I think you're all healed!"

"Indeed she is," said another voice. I looked to my side and saw Porlyusica standing on our branch. She slowly approached us, perfectly co-ordinated on the branch.

"Where did you come from?" cried Happy. I gave him a warning look, not wanting Porlyusica to get her broom again.

"Stairs," replied Porlyusica, gesturing at an opened door in the trunk of the tree where a flight of stairs led down to the base.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I cried. Although I was glad she didn't crack at us yet. I suppose since Happy was a cat, it was OK.

"Don't 'what the hell' me," snapped Porlyusica, flicking me in the head.

"Ite!" I said, rubbing my head.

"But it seems your magic levels are all good again," said Porlyusica, "So, now you can leave." She turned back towards the stairs.

"T-Thank you so much, Porlyusica-san!" I said, bowing at her.

She stiffened as if my 'thank you' surprised her. Then she said, without turning around, "That was hint, you know."

"Oh, OK… we'll leave," I said, giving the scarf back to Natsu, "Here. Come on," I stood up, nearly falling off the branch as soon as I did so. I sighed, envious of Porlyusica's balance. I might as well have been walking on a tightrope.

"Yeah," said Natsu, getting up, "Arigato na, Granny!"

Now I stiffened and grabbed Natsu by the arm, "OK! Let's go, hurry up!"

The same dark aura surrounded Porlyusica as she heard 'that word'. She began to turn around but I had dragged Natsu off by then as we landed on the ground. I looked back once in case she was going to, I don't know, kill us with magic or something but she didn't.

I swear she was smiling before I ran into the forest and I could no longer see her.

Once we were a considerable distance away, I stopped and caught my breath.

"Geez, Natsu!" I said between pants, "Was it that hard to say her name?"

"Well…" said Natsu, scratching his head.

"That was a rhetorical question!" I said, standing up, "Anyway, we should get back to town and the guild. I have to take a shower too," I said, realising I probably stank by now.

"Or you could just come along to our house!" grinned Natsu.

"OK," I shrugged. I hadn't really been to Natsu's house before so I was quite curious to see what it was like inside.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"HOME SWEET HOME!" shouted Natsu, running inside his house, Happy flying closely behind. I smiled and entered the home only to be completely surprised. The inside was a mess! Random dolls and stuff scattered on the floor, a hammock hung on a tree, drawers upturned and the contents pouring out and entire dust piles in corners. I sweat-dropped, wondering how Natsu and Happy never got covered in dust living here or didn't even have a feather-duster in sight? I might not have wanted to be a rich, snotty girl but I still liked tidy, clean places.

"This is our home," stated Natsu as if the sign outside stating 'Natsu and Happy's House' with an arrow wasn't obvious enough, "What do you think?"

"When was the last time you cleaned this place?" I asked curiously.

"Hm… Dunno…" said Natsu, sincerely looking as if he'd forgotten completely. He turned to Happy, "When was it?"

"I think it was when Lisanna told us to before she supposedly died," said Happy.

"THAT WAS TWO YEARS AGO!" I shouted, "You're telling me you did NOTHING since then?"

"Too lazy," said Natsu, brushing the issue aside, laughing, "Never saw the need and we can live in here. Besides, we spend most of our town in the guild and your apartment anyway!"

"And I can see why," I said, looking around the room, "Come on; we have to get cleaning right now."

"Why?" asked Natsu.

"Because it's obvious this place needs it. Come on," I said, producing cleaning materials (dust pan, broom, feather duster and cloths for wiping) out of nowhere, "You two can start dusting." I threw them a feather duster and a miniature one for Happy, "I'll sweep up and wipe stuff."

"Demo, why, Lucy?" whined Natsu, "It's not that bad, honest."

"I'll make sure the next mission we go on will be by boat or train," I said.

"EH?" said Natsu, already looking purple, "Unfair, Lucy!"

"Unfair!" shouted Happy.

"I'll buy you the biggest fish," I bribed.

"Cleaning~ Cleaning~" sang Happy cheerfully while dusting the small corners we couldn't reach while flying.

"Oh, come on, Happy!" complained Natsu. Grumbling to himself, he started dusting around. I smiled at him, "Thank you, Natsu."

He seemed surprised and then smiled back, "It's OK."

_As sunset came (yes, their house is this dirty. :) )_

"FINISHED!" shouted Natsu, lying on the floor of their wiped and shiny house.

"Ah… tired…" groaned Happy, face down beside him.

"Good work," I smiled although I was dead tired as well. Looking at them exhausted now, I felt a bit bad, "I'm going to take a shower, and then I'll treat for dinner, OK?"

"FISH/FOOD!" shouted both mages, instantly energised, "Arigato, Lucy!"

"OK, I'll just shower," I said, going into their bathroom. As I finished my shower, wrapped in a towel, I looked at my clothes and sighed. Of course they were covered with dust. Suddenly a flash appeared and Virgo stood there, holding some fabric.

"Virgo!" I cried happily, never more glad to see her.

"Here, Hime," said Virgo, handing me the clothes she was holding. I smiled at the clothes, a simple strappy black dress which went down to just past my knees and matching shoes and ribbon to tie my hair up. Also a black, shiny clutch which I placed my wallet into.

"Arigato, Virgo," I said gratefully.

"Oh, that's nothing, it's the most plain outfit I could find since you're going to that sushi place again, aren't you?"

"Happy wants fish so Happy gets fish," I said, as I did the strap on my black heel and replaced my current ribbon with my black one.

"Could you please return my clothes to my apartment?" I said, tossing her a key, "Use that to get into my room."

"Understood," said Virgo, picking up my other clothes and about to dig underground.

"Wait, wait!" I cried, stopping her, "I'm begging you to just go there normally, please? I don't want some humongous hole in Natsu's house."

Virgo nodded and opened the bathroom window to jump out.

"Arigato, Virgo!" I called before going out.

"Yay! Lucy's out! Now we can go eat— Hey, where'd you get new clothes?" said Natsu before realising himself, "Virgo."

"Right," I said, "But it sort of destroyed my purpose to keep clean if I was going back into my dirty clothes anyway so Virgo came. Anyway, let's go." I held my clutch tightly so no one would steal it as we went into town.

"Fish~ Fish~" sang Happy, flying about.

"You seem to sing a lot today," observed Natsu. I laughed, quite enjoying Happy's little show, really.

"What's wrong with it?" said Happy, as he continued to sing happily.

As we entered the restaurant, the place was packed, unexpectedly.

"I don't think there are any seats," said Happy, flying above our heads and scanning the room.

"We'll just get take-out then," I shrugged, going up to the counter to order.

When the order arrived, I payed as promised and got a huge fish out for Happy (also as promised) and thanked them.

"Let's go," I said, going outside, "Where do you want to eat?"

"LET'S GO!" cheered Natsu, suddenly sweeping me up bridal style and running towards a direction.

"CHOTTO MATTE! NATSU!" I screamed but not too loudly so no one would think I was getting kidnapped. But still loudly enough to sound strict.

"What? It would've taken forever if I didn't do this!"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, hitting him on the head.

Soon we arrived at Natsu's chosen place. It was a grassy spot with some flowering trees around. It seemed familiar and after a few short moments, I finally realised where it was.

"This is the place where the Hanami Party took place," I said, smiling at the trees. The blossoms weren't rainbow-coloured yet but it was beautiful all the same.

"Yeah," said Natsu, grinning, "You never got to come to this place so I decided to bring you here."

I smiled and sat down, "Thanks. Which sushi do you want?"

Natsu sat down and we talked happily, eating while Happy sat between us, chomping on his large fish. Finally all the food was gone.

"I'm stuffed," said Natsu, leaning back, putting his hands behind his head.

"Maybe because you ate three quarters of the whole order!" I said. Though I didn't particularly mind. I didn't feel very hungry and the sushi pieces I managed to swipe were filling enough.

Natsu raised an eyebrow, "Are you still hungry?"

"No…" I said.

"Then what's the problem?" said Natsu, lying back down.

I laughed for a second and then went to lie beside him, "See any stars?"

"Nope, the trees are blocking the view," replied Natsu, although he didn't seem to mind.

After a few minutes of silence, Natsu finally spoke up, "Ne, Lucy?"

"Nani?" I said.

"What do you think of me?" he sounded quite nervous asking the question, a rare thing for Natsu. I was immediately suspicious of something about to happen. The same feeling I had when Gray confessed…

My spit suddenly caught in my throat and I tried to swallow it down.

"A great friend," I replied, hoping I didn't sound as stressed as I felt. I did notice I spoke really quickly though, "You're one of the most interesting and… just all around best people I've met."

Natsu seemed pleased by this. Quickly, I asked him a question so he wouldn't ask me any other awkward thing, "W-Why do you ask?"

Natsu turned around to face me and he smirked at my blushing face, "You're stammering and blushing." His confidence seemed to suddenly come bouncing back to him naturally.

"Just answer the question!" I snapped, looking away, aware I was still blushing.

"I wanted to ask because…" said Natsu, his arms constricting around me and pulling me to him before pressing his lips to mine. I felt nothing like what I felt during the play rehearsal.

Compared to that time, a firework seemed to go off within me, yet nothing had changed about the way Natsu kissed. It was almost exactly like Gray's. Gray…

It was my own feelings and body reacting. I moved my lips slightly, perfectly in sync, like a dance with him. The feeling stayed with me, throbbing strong inside my heart.

_Had I fallen for Natsu Dragneel?_

Then Natsu pulled away first and hugged me close. My head rested in the crook of his neck.

"I've fallen for you, Lucy," said Natsu, "I promise to never hurt you. Be mine?"

I was literally hyperventilating against him and not because he was holding me so close. A million thoughts ran through my head like an electric current, starting with 'WHAT THE HELL?', followed by, 'But I still love Gray…' and then finally, 'But Gray doesn't love me anymore…'.

"I…" I said, fumbling about in my head for that stupid speech I was supposed to memorise especially for moments like this. Of course when I was still a Heartfilia wealthy girl, my father had tried to fix me up with plenty of other rich sons of big companies. But of course none of them clicked with me so I had come up with a never-fail speech to turn them all down nicely.

And I now forgot it, I was hyperventilating so much.

So I used my own head to think. Gray and I were practically in separate worlds now, there was no way I could keep hoping. Even if I did, every single day. But nothing ever happened just by wishing for it. Natsu was basically the equivalent of Gray, roughly. Everything I liked it Gray, Natsu also had. Caring for friends, assertive, kind and funny… If I had to move on with anybody, it would be Natsu.

"I… Yes," I finally said, burying my head against his chest. Part of his scarf draped down and I rested my head on that.

I could imagine Natsu smiling as he hugged me tighter, "I love you."

A huge weight had slipped off my shoulders as I hugged Natsu, beginning to move on from Gray, "I love you, too."

**Normal POV**

Cana walked across her room in Fairy Hills and sat down at her desk. Her room was average. She didn't keep anything particularly peculiar. Instead she just had a basic room with a fur carpet and large bed with a couple of pillows and thick blanket. She also had a large bookshelf and sofa with a coffee table. The weirdest thing she kept was a secret compartment which hid all her alcohol. Although the most precious things to her were on her wooden desk with the matching chair. Things like her diary, where she kept a countdown of days Gildarts would return home and notes of things she might say to him before he left again.

She also had her prized possession, a photo of her mother from so long ago which she regularly made sure was clean and sparkling. Next to that was a picture of the guild and a small box for her cards. It was quite late and dark so she lit the candle on her desk and got out her cards, placing them on her desk.

Cana often did some tarot reading before she went to sleep, to find out the chances of Gildarts returning, any dangers coming her way or anything that might endanger the guild in any way.

Picking up a card, she widened her eyes. The card she held was 'DEATH'. She looked at the position the card was laid and the neighbouring cards. Finally, she came to a conclusion and closed her eyes, thinking, _the cards said 'closing of one door to open another'. What…? _Suddenly she had an epiphany, realising what it meant, _no way…_

Quickly, she gathered up the cards and re-arranged them, picking one up again. It was the 'TOWER'. Cana placed down the card again and sighed resting her head on her hand, not needing to check the position of the card or the ones next to it.

_A sudden change and the closing of one door to open another… _Cana stood up quickly, bringing her cards and tugged on a jacket, opening the door to quietly make her way down the hall to Juvia's room.

Knocking quietly, she hissed, "Juvia? It's Cana; open up!"

Soon, the door silently opened and Juvia stood there in her dressing gown, "Cana? What's wrong?"

"There's a sudden change," said Cana, "With Lucy's feelings. She's closed off Gray and opened another door to move on."

"Natsu?" said Juvia.

Cana nodded, "It must be. I've read tarot cards for many years. There can be no mistake."

"What should we do?" said Juvia, opening the door wider, allowing Cana to step in.

"I don't know," said Cana, arranging her cards on Juvia's table, "That's what these are for. To guide us in a situation." She picked up a card and was emotionless as she put it back down.

"What did the cards say?" asked Juvia.

"It was the 'THREE OF WANDS'," said Cana, "Meaning 'show others the way'."

"So, that means…" said Juvia, "Tell Gray and Lucy what we know?"

"This is usually the type of thing the people involved work out themselves. If Gray doesn't realise his big mistake in letting Natsu take Lucy soon, we'll take action."

"How long are we waiting?" asked Juvia.

"That depends. Pick one," said Cana, placing each of the cards face-down and scrambling them around.

Juvia did as she was told and picked one up. She flipped it around, "It's the 'ACE OF PENTACLES'."

"We'll wait one day then," said Cana, "Hopefully Gray would be smart enough to realise what he should already know." She stood up and glanced at the clock on Juvia's drawer, stating it was eleven o' clock, "I better get back to my room. Have to get to sleep."

"Yeah, me too," said Juvia, smiling at her, "Good night."

"Night," said Cana, getting out. She sighed as she entered her room again and threw her jacket on the chair. Then she got into bed, putting her cards on a stacked pile beside her pillow, except the 'ACE OF PENTACLES'. She held it up and looked at it even though she could barely even see the outline of it.

_I wasn't even tarot reading and yet… _thought Cana, _it must be a coincidence. _

The cards around the 'ACE OF PENTACLES' when she scrambled them around… as she picked them up, she glimpsed them and it made the card mean something.

'ACE OF PENTACLES'- _'believe in the good faith of others'._

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**These tarot reading things are actually true~ I looked them up online :D**

**Anyways, don't worry, the regular story will continue after this alternative. This is just for the people who prefer a more detailed and slow event. **

**You know what I'm going to ask so please do so. :)**


	19. Alternative Part Two

Chapter Seventeen: Realisation (Alternative, Part Two)

**Lucy's POV**

I stared up into the plain darkness of my apartment as I lay in my own bed. It felt strange now. I had been sleeping in a tree and on Natsu after all. My apartment hadn't been touched by some miracle, except from my old clothes neatly folded and placed there by Virgo.

Natsu had returned me back to my apartment and, feeling like I owed him something for his unfaltering kindness to me, I invited him to stay the night. He slept soundly on the floor beside my bed and Happy curled up on the end of my bed. I moved quietly and slowly, making as little to no noise as possible. Natsu moved slightly and I froze, but then he just turned around and started sleeping again. Happy's ears twitched but he remained a statue. Slowly getting out of bed, I walked quietly to the window and looked out. The cathedral clock stated two in the morning. I grabbed a jacket and suitable clothes, wearing them before I went out, leaving the apartment building. After just one night of shadow summoning, I would definitely not give up until I could get the shadows to respond to me.

As I walked through town, it was dead silent. Everything was dark and the only light was provided by the moon. The buildings looked dark and menacing and I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding as I left the town and went into the forest. It was exactly the type of mood for some sort of serial killer to jump out and assassinate me in the town so I was relieved to be in the forest. I walked a bit farther into the forest until I realised I was standing in the clearing of Juvia's place. It was peaceful and made me feel safe. Besides, there was a river there. If I happened to lose my direction, I just had to walk along with the river until I reached some familiar place.

I breathed in and out and finally focussed my magic power again, letting it out, like I did before. As expected, an explosion of light erupted from the ground but nothing really happened. I sighed and kept at it, being persistent.

_I will definitely make them respond! _I thought determinedly.

**Gray's POV**

I sat on the rocky surface of the mountain. I had practically spent a part of my life just on this mountain now. I liked it though. It was peaceful and calming and allowed me to think.

About Lucy.

_Had it been a mistake to let her go? _I thought. I had repeated that saying in my head all day, thinking of no right or wrong answer. On one hand, I wanted to fight for her. If she hated me, I just wanted to win her heart somehow. On the other hand, I had been rejected. Maybe I should just accept that and move on like a normal person and not try to force myself onto her like some possessive psycho. The same arguments went through my head over and over again and I was really frustrated by them and tried to go on missions to clear my head but there were never really many missions suited for me such as translating a book or spell, etc.

Instead I wondered if I should just spar with someone. Although I could never find Natsu nowadays. He wasn't at his house and most of everyone else was busy and Erza and Mira were on a mission together. I was pretty sure Gramps had better things to do as well so I was stumped for things to do to keep my mind off of her.

Suddenly, a column of blinding light shot up, right in front of me.

"HOLY—!" I began shouting but then I remembered to calm myself. If it was some sort of enemy down there, I didn't want to alert them of my location. Quickly, my mind worked to come up with strategies if it was an enemy and I was glad to be thinking like a mage again. At least I wasn't getting frustrated with myself over her. Slowly and silently, I made my way down until I was on a rock ledge above where the light had exploded from. Peering into the darkness, I saw a figure there, but couldn't make out who it was because it was so dark.

_Lucy, _my instincts suddenly told me. I trusted them but I was confused. Why was Lucy out at two in the morning? Although, I quickly shoved that thought away. It was none of my business to know every single thing she did. Though I decided to stay put and watch so no Vulcan came and attacked her or something.

As I watched, she released light column after light column yet nothing was happening as far as I knew. I couldn't understand what the heck she was doing. I had enough knowledge to know she was unleashing magic power but why she was using such huge amounts of it one after the other without anything happening, I had no idea.

_This isn't going to end well if she keeps doing that, _I thought, glaring in frustration, about to jump down and stop her. But I didn't know what exactly she was doing. Maybe there was some point to it.

After about twenty minutes of releasing magic power, Lucy seemed to be pretty tired. I was tired watching, I couldn't imagine what it was like for her. But being stubborn, she continued to do the same thing over and over. Finally, she became too tired and drained of magic power, barely standing up.

_Is she… OK? _I thought, immediately answering that, _Well, that's pretty stupid; it's obvious she's not OK._

I continued watching though as she panted and pinched herself to stay awake. Then she finally gave in to the tiredness and started falling. And I ran out from my hiding spot.

**Lucy's POV**

During the entire practice, nothing had happened. I was extremely sleepy and tired, plus I was feeling a bit numb too. It was colder than I expected and my thin-ish jacket didn't really do much for my warmth. As I got colder and my tiredness began to win against me, I finally gave in and collapsed…

…into someone's arms. I was surprised and tried to open my eyes, but I was too tired to see who it was. I could tell the person was human though since I couldn't feel any fur or anything against me and he wasn't snorting or making any animal noises. So I relaxed against his arms and fell asleep.

**Gray's POV**

The second I was holding her, something seemed to click in me and I didn't want to let her go. It was like finally coming home after being lost: recognition, happiness and relief to have found it again. Or if I had amnesia and suddenly everything came rushing back to me in a second.

By the time I came to my senses, I realised I was clutching her tightly to me and she had fallen asleep. I smiled at her sleeping face, peaceful and happy. Then I began walking towards her apartment the long way so I could hold her longer. She was light in my arms and I tried to keep her as still as possible so I wouldn't disturb her sleep. In a way, I was glad she was asleep. If she did hate me, at least I wouldn't have to see it.

_But… what was that feeling back then? _I thought as I had nothing else to think about. It had seemed like amnesia and suddenly remembering, coming home after being lost or having an 'eureka!' moment. I couldn't understand why.

"Is my body… telling me something?" I murmured aloud unintentionally, wondering. It seemed fairly possible and I always trusted my body's instincts since they'd gotten me out of many life-threatening situations.

_But… I've always understood my body signs… And now I don't know what it's trying to tell me…_

"Gray…" Lucy suddenly mumbled. I nearly dropped her right then by surprise. I looked down but she was not awake, in fact sleep-talking.

I paused for a second, allowing her to get back to sleep. What I wouldn't give to be able to see what she was thinking about… Then I had an idea. Maybe if I played along in the conversation, she'd reveal what she's thinking about.

"Nani?" I asked.

"Gomenasai…" she said sleepily but sounded as if she were greatly upset in whatever dream she was having.

_Why is she apologising to me? _I thought but I decided to keep playing along, "What for?"

"What I did to you…" she replied, still asleep, "Demo… I still…"

"Lucy! Found you!" shouted a voice suddenly. I looked up and noticed Happy flying over towards me and Lucy.

"Did you find her, Happy?" yelled an all-too familiar voice. I looked up and saw Natsu bursting from the trees.

"Natsu?" I said.

"Hey, did you find Lucy? Where was she?" asked Natsu.

"She was unconscious in the forest," I replied easily. I realised I had no idea what Lucy was doing in the middle of the forest so early in the morning and since Natsu was dense, it would be a waste of time to try and explain her releasing huge columns of magic power for no reason as far as I could tell.

"In the forest?" Natsu frowned, "Did someone kidnap her?"

"I didn't see anyone," I said and then cut him off before he could ask any more questions, "Anyway, the important thing is we get her somewhere warm. We're both pretty much fine out here but Lucy isn't."

Natsu seemed to consider this and then nodded, running ahead. I followed after him, jogging slowly as not to disturb the Sleeping Beauty. We arrived back in town in minutes and slipped inside Lucy's apartment through the window.

"Well," I said as I lay Lucy back down, "I didn't see anyone in the forest but maybe there was someone. Do you think you could check to see if any person's after Lucy with your sense of smell?"

"Yeah, it's probably a good idea," nodded Natsu, falling for it gullibly, "You can stay here and look after Lucy."

I nodded and he and Happy leapt out of the window. I smiled slightly. Even if Natsu sniffed to his heart's content, the river would have wiped out most scents or if not that, the morning mist which was settling in so no innocent person would be blamed for 'kidnapping' Lucy. I walked over and pulled the blanket up so it covered her and knelt down next to her bed. Natsu would be back soon so I had to be quick.

"I love you, Lucy," I said quietly while laying my hand over hers which lied on the bed.

As I turned to leave, I was on the windowsill when suddenly, a quiet voice, like a whisper of wind sounded, "I still love you, too."

"!" I let a surprised sound come out of my mouth and I quickly turned back around but she was sleeping as peaceful as an angel and showed no signs of having said anything. I pinched my face and strained my ears to hear something. Maybe I had heard something else and misinterpreted it for… that.

But I couldn't hear anything. Had… she said it? I shook my head and spread my wings, launching from the windowsill and flying away. I saw Natsu dashing down the street as I flew so he would arrive back in time to start protecting Lucy for me.

The words kept echoing in my head, _I still love you, too. _Was it possible Lucy still possibly loved me?

**Lucy's POV**

_My dream was strange. I was in a dark place, pitch black and the only person who stood opposite me was none other than Gray. I looked at him. His face was stoic and emotionless. _

"_Gray…" I said, the sadness clearly shown in my voice._

"_Nani?" said Gray._

"_Gomenasai…" I said._

"_For what?" asked Gray after a short pause._

"_For what I did…" I said, "Demo… I still…"_

_Suddenly, Gray disappeared and I blinked, in the darkness by myself. I ran around, seeming not to get anywhere, looking for Gray. I seemed to be running for hours with no success. Suddenly, a hand laid over mine. I looked beside me and saw Gray. _

"_I love you, Lucy," he said. I widened my eyes, surprised but then smiled as he lifted his hand and began to walk away._

"_I still love you, too," I said just as he disappeared again. _

"!" I gasped slightly, sitting up, before sighing, "A dream, huh?" I didn't remember much but then I realised I had fainted in the forest. I was somehow back in my bed. Natsu lied next to my bed, sleeping soundly again. I got out of bed and went over to the windowsill, staring into the sky, _if only it were true… that dream…_

_The next morning…_

I woke up bright and early and for once, I was quite happy instead of grouchy as I usually was when I woke up in the morning. As I went through my usual routine and was brushing my hair, a note suddenly caught my eye. I picked it up, suddenly panicking, _it better not be some other ransom letter…_

But when I opened the note, it had simple and plain text written on it. The handwriting was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on whose it was. I read the message briefly and was surprised and what I read.

_I have to talk to you. River, 11am. _

_What the hell… Gray? _My imaginative mind suddenly thought up. I shook that thought out of my head. Gray didn't even have the chance to get into my apartment. Besides, he hated me. Like he would want to talk to me at the river about anything. I shook my head, but stuffed the note into my pocket. I would ask at the guild if anyone wrote it. I also glanced up at the clock which stated 9:30am. I had an hour and a half to figure out who the anonymous note writer was. I walked out to go to the guild.

As I left the apartment, suddenly, a shape suddenly fell down and stood in front of me, beaming happily.

"Lucy! Ohayo!" yelled Natsu, grinning, hands behind his head casually. Happy was nowhere to be seen. Spending time with Charle, I assumed.

"Ohayo," I smiled back and wondered whether or not to tell him about my dream. It was weird but strangely realistic at the same time. I decided against it. It didn't seem right to suddenly mention strange dreams you were having on a bright and happy day. And especially to your not-so-bright, but still happy now-boyfriend.

"So… just to say this straight, did something happen to you last night?" asked Natsu, immediately shattering my good day.

"I…" I began, but weirdly enough, I didn't want to share what I'd actually been doing, trying to summon shadows. Maybe I just thought Natsu would start going on about how dangerous it was, like every other person had been. I didn't really believe that, but I thought there was no other explanation and I am supportive of honesty in a relationship but there were exceptions to every rule.

"No," I finally answered. I hoped he assumed my hesitation was just me trying to remember something, "Why?"

"You were fainted in the forest…" said Natsu, scratching his head, "Well, that's what Gray said at least but…"

"Wait!" I said, "What… did you just say Gray?"

"Yeah, Gray. He found you in the forest, fainted and brought you back. What the hell were you doing anyway? Did you sleepwalk?"

_Like anyone can sleepwalk that far, _"Yeah, I guess," I lied easily, "What was Gray doing…?"

Then I suddenly remembered I _was _just below his special place. He could have found exactly where I was, what with the huge columns of light I was releasing.

"Never mind," I said, "The point is I'm fine. I don't know what happened but it won't happen again," _with you knowing, anyway, _"so… anything else new?"

"Oh yeah!" said Natsu, taking out a paper sheet, "It's a mission for us! Since Erza and Mira are on their own mission and Gildarts is never here anyway, we can't take S-Rank missions," he pouted at that, "so I just grabbed one. We can do it," he smiled.

"OK!" I agreed before I knew what I was saying. I was thinking too much about that note. Had Gray wrote it and meant to give it to me? Well, that was obvious, it was in my apartment but had he wrote it? I had meant to ask everyone at the guild but since I had agreed already, there was no pulling out now.

"There's not too big of a reward but it isn't too hard either," said Natsu as he walked down the street, looking at the paper, "We're helping an old lady bring supplies into her house."

"That doesn't sound too bad," I nodded; glad it was something simple and not too crazy like the kind of mission I expected Natsu to get.

"Here's the place," said Natsu, stopping in front of a nice building despite its small size. It was made of bricks and an elegant looking old lady was standing in front of the building. Her hair was in a messy fish-tail plait resting on her right shoulder, coloured light brown with a hint of grey. She had a few wrinkles and wore a red blouse, black skirt and black leather flats. Despite being old, she stood up quite straight so she had good posture and didn't need a walking stick.

"Are you the two mages come to help with the mission?" she nodded at the paper Natsu was holding.

"Yeah," replied Natsu, "I'm Natsu and she's Lucy."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled.

"Same to you," smiled the old woman but she seemed distracted by something, I noticed, "I'm Celina."

"Anyway, I have a few things that need moving and things that have to be put away."

"OK!" grinned Natsu, bounding inside. I started to follow him but then I noticed Celina was looking at me curiously, seeming concentrated on something. I pretended not to notice and walked inside. I didn't want to confront Celina about her staring, especially since she was a client. Also, maybe after time, she would stop.

But even as I was moving furniture items and small figurines and boxes filled with who-knows-what, I could feel her eyes on me as she moved the less-heavier objects herself. Natsu bounded about, lifting the heaviest items. Celina didn't seem to be staring at him at all, only me. I felt uncomfortable but still managed to move everything without many catastrophes.

As we finished moving everything, Natsu sat down on the ground and began panting, exhausted from moving so much furniture.

"I'm tired!" groaned Natsu, lying on the ground.

"Thank you for your hard work," praised Celina, "Here." She placed some notes next to his head, the reward. Then she said after a short pause, "Could you please take this one last thing upstairs," she gestured to a small table, "I'll throw in an extra 3000 jewel, how about that?"

"OK!" said Natsu, shooting up and lifting up the thing, running off with it.

As soon as he was gone, Celina sat down on the seat across from mine with the coffee table between us.

"Lucy?" said Celina hesitantly. I looked up, "Yes?"

"I did not tell you or Natsu this but I actually tell fortunes for a living," said Celina, "My senses are more sensitive than a normal human's. Anyway, I sensed something as you arrived. I sense you may have an important encounter soon with someone incredibly important to you. At… 11 o' clock. You have something to tell this person. This will be the best time to say it and also, don't worry about it. It's always better to get your feelings across in the long run. You also have a big decision to make soon and you think about people's feelings. It's up to you whether or not this is a good thing. You also have to follow your heart, as cliché as it sounds. And something you've wanted for a while will appear when you least expect it but it's not as great as it seems. You were an interesting person to practice fortune telling on. One of the most interesting and complicated readings I'd ever had."

"I… See…" I said. Even the fortunes weren't on my side. The fortune didn't seem particularly… fortunate to me. Then I remembered the meeting. I glanced at a large grandfather clock ticking loudly in the corner of the room. It said five to eleven. I hadn't even realised how much time had passed when Natsu and I were doing the mission. I was sprinting towards the door before I realised it, "I'm so sorry, I have to go! Tell Natsu I had to go somewhere! It was an emergency!" With that, I ran out and down the street towards the forest where the river flowed. I didn't know why, but it seemed like the right place to go and where Gray had meant.

As I tore through the trees and ducked under branches and leapt over roots sticking out of the ground, I could only think of one thing. I would have to tell Gray I loved him. It must have been the important thing Celina was talking about, because nothing else seemed important in comparison.

I burst into the clearing before I even knew it and it was empty. I looked around for that navy head which I couldn't find. Suddenly I felt a presence in the clearing. I turned my head and Gray stood there. For the first time in a long while, I realised, his eyes were not tortured, but instead determined.

"I assume it's your note then," I said.

"Yeah," said Gray, "Look, I don't think you feel the same way anymore… I mean, if you ever did. But… I love you, Lucy. I always have."

My eyes widened but then the greatest happiness swelled in my chest and I felt better than I ever had in a long time, "I… I love you too, Gray. I've had, for a long time."

Gray was surprised but then he smiled and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me to him. I smiled and didn't resist at all. Then his lips touched mine. It felt amazing and I knew right then, when our separate worlds united again. Gray was the only one for me but then… My mind conjured up the feeling I had with Natsu when he kissed me. It had been as equally as good so… what did that mean?

"What's wrong?" asked Gray, separating himself from me. Suddenly I heard a noise and immediately turned around, widening my eyes, "Natsu… I… How…"

"I followed your scent," explained Natsu, looking away, his eyes narrowed, "Why, though, Lucy? With Gray…?"

"Natsu—" I began, but Gray cut me off.

"Look, Natsu. I thought Lucy hated me. If I had known she still loved me, I would never have let you have her."

"What are you implying?" asked Natsu, his voice deadly.

"You can't have her, obviously," said Gray bluntly, standing in front of me, "I had her first. I loved her just as much as you do."

"That's not fair though," replied Natsu, "Lucy's already my girlfriend so… no."

"Nani?" said Gray, pushing me aside at that moment to safety, "Fine. Let's fight right now. Whoever loses gives her up."

"All right," grinned Natsu although it wasn't a particularly nice one.

"What? NO!" I protested, running between them so they couldn't attack each other, "I don't want anyone to fight! Or even argue for that matter!"

"Lucy, get out of the way," said Gray calmly but with a small hint of explosive anger underneath it.

"Do you love me, Lucy?" asked Natsu.

"I...I…" I stammered, not sure what I thought anymore. I loved Gray, but was it possible I loved Natsu too? It was possible to love two people at once, wasn't it? Besides, I felt _something _when Natsu had kissed me that night? I couldn't take that out of consideration.

"Lucy…" said Gray.

"I… do love you—" I said only to be cut off by a shadow jumping over my head towards Gray.

"Then that's all I need to hear," said Natsu, smiling for a second before he barrelled straight into Gray and they began fighting.

I froze for a moment and then realised what was happening. I ran to them, screaming, even nearly crying, "Stop it, you two! Stop it!"

It wasn't anything like their non-serious, even playful fights. This was a full-on death match as if they really wanted to kill each other.

"Out of the way, Luce!" shouted Natsu, knocking Gray aside into the river where they continued fighting seriously. The current wasn't strong enough to sweep them away but it was enough to make them lose their balance a little as well as slow their movements.

One slow movement could cause a terrible injury. Or even worse…

"STOP IT, YOU TWO!" I shouted, thinking of their deaths… on my hands. I didn't want it to turn like this ever. I didn't want them hurt or to hate each other like this.

Suddenly, a huge blindingly white light exploded, much brighter and shinier than my other attempts. It blasted through the sky, straight up to who-knows-where and a humongous snow white magic circle with a gold outline opened beneath my feet. I knew right then and smiled.

_They're finally responding…_

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**And this is where we came in! :D **

**Sorry if you were expecting the continuation of the story! I promise it'll continue after these two chapters though! Hope you enjoy these though~**


	20. May the Best Man Win

Chapter Eighteen: May the Best Man Win

**Gray's POV**

As a pillar of the brightest light I had ever seen- brighter than Lucy's previous attempts – I instinctively held my hand up to shield my eyes. Beside me, Natsu did the same so I could stop worrying about him for the moment and relax my muscles since they were prepared for a surprise attack. He was watching Lucy as I was. I ducked my head because the light was hurting my eyes even when I shielded them with my hand.

A humongous white and gold magic circle stretched out in the clearing, bigger than any magic circle I'd ever seen. It was as if the whole floor of the clearing had been covered with a transparent carpet with white and gold patterns.

Suddenly, my intuition flickered and I jumped to the side the same time Natsu did as two black figures zoomed past us at an inhuman speed. I could sense malicious intent from the figures as they darted after us, not seeming to slow in the least in the air. I flipped and moved in mid-air to avoid being hit. Then I froze a part of the river to land on and quickly jumped away from onto the land as the shape rocketed there a second after I jumped, smashing my temporary platform to pieces.

_Agility, power and with such a dark intent… Is she doing this? _I glanced for a second in Lucy's direction. She stood there, completely emotionless in the clearing. I felt shivers go up my spine as I saw her eyes which were usually bright and happy. Now they looked unseeing and blank and it scared me. A dark, what looked like a black flame crept up her arm, flickering.

"Lucy! What the hell's the matter with you?" I shouted, while avoiding attacks from the figure. Suddenly the figures dropped back and retreated to the other side of the river.

"Gray!" yelled Natsu. I looked over and he was panting but all right. Despite our earlier fight, I was glad for that. His fist was engulfed in flames, as he had used it to defend himself against the figure.

"What's wrong with Lucy?" said Natsu.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. None of this made any sense to me. Suddenly, I sensed something underground and leapt aside as a black, long, huge stake came out of the ground. They suddenly sprouted from everywhere, shooting at us. I dived aside and one caught me off guard, coming out of a tree and cut me on the cheek. I winced slightly and landed on one of the black stakes.

"They're solid," I said more to myself than actually speaking to Natsu.

"I think I figured that out!" said Natsu, rebounding off black stakes and jumping around, trying to avoid being hit, "I'm going to try and get near Lucy."

I nodded and began jumping from stake to stake, trying to get near Lucy.

"At least these stakes are keeping the other dark things away," said Natsu, looking at the figures standing on the opposite bank of the river.

"Yeah," I said, leaping over a stake and landed in front of Lucy, "Oi Lucy, wake up! Are you in a trance or something?"

She stayed silent but thrust out her arm with the black flame in a punch. I narrowly avoided it as the flame switched places to her feet and she kicked out at Natsu.

"Lucy can fight!" said Natsu and despite the situation began laughing, "Who ever knew I'd see the day?" He ducked as she punched and leapt back.

"Are you crazy? Laughing now?" I shouted. I didn't want to hurt Lucy but her combat ability seemed to improve as well as her agility. I only narrowly avoided being hit and every part of my body was itching to fight back but I didn't. I could tell Natsu felt the same as his flame withered out and he just avoided the attacks like me.

Suddenly, dark wisps of something floated around Lucy's hand, slowly taking shape of a sword, replacing the fire which suddenly vanished. Slashing at us with surprising accuracy and aggression, I backed away, not able to do anything else. She didn't let one move get past her and predicted everything I was going to do, already finding ways to counter them. Plus, she was predicting and countering Natsu at the same time too.

_Damn! At this rate, _I thought and felt air under my foot, "Ah!"

I fell into the river and Natsu fell beside me. Lucy held the sword horizontally so it could slash my and Natsu's throats.

"What's gotten into you?" said Natsu.

Lucy didn't answer; her eyes blank and merciless. She raised the sword.

Suddenly a black glow pierced through my eyes. I blinked and opened my eyes.

"That was dangerous, dangerous…" a figure in front of me straightened up as his magic circle disappeared. He turned to me and Natsu and I immediately recognised his face.

"You!" cried Natsu, beating me, "You… you… what's-your-name…"

"Are you OK?" he asked, not seeming offended.

"Yeah…" I replied, getting up, "Aston."

"That's it!" said Natsu.

All at once, with whatever Aston did, the black stakes, swords and figures melted away into the ground and Lucy blinked once, sudden realisation coming to her features.

"What… just happened?" she asked, confused, "What's Aston doing here?"

"You tried to kill us!" yelled Natsu bluntly.

"What?" said Lucy, not having any idea what he was blabbering about. She touched a hand to her head, "I don't… remember."

"Well, what did you do?" I turned towards Aston, the only person who would know what was going on.

"I'll explain," said Aston after a moment's thought. He looked at all of us, "Listen carefully."

**Lucy's POV**

As I saw Natsu and Gray, I was confused. Had they wet their pants or something? Why were their pants wet, why was Aston standing there, weren't Gray and Natsu fighting a minute ago and I didn't remember anything at all except the sight of the two of them colliding in a death match. After that, everything went completely blank.

I looked at Aston for an explanation.

"Well firstly, Lucy somehow managed to summon shadows," said Aston, "Which, congratulations by the way, didn't exactly turn out the way you planned."

"Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome. Anyway, because Lucy was so wrapped up in you two trying to kill each other I presume, she didn't have a thought of controlling the shadows. Plus she used up much magic power unknowingly."

"But, were all those things shadows?" asked Gray, "I thought there were just shadows of living things?"

"That's one type," said Aston, "There are three types of shadows. Lucy here managed to use all three at once. The first type is the type you've described. Seisoku Shadows, the shadows of living things, like a person or animal or something like that, the exact copy of the living thing with the same abilities and fighting style, etc. Then there are two other types. The second is the Nai Shadows, the Dead Shadows. These are the shadows of things that are, well, dead, like swords, stakes and the like. The last is the rarest type. The Seibun Shadows, the Elemental Shadows, in which you can literally make water, fire or earth to fight with. For example, if Lucy had landed a blow on either of you with her fire fist, it will burn you like real fire and if she sent the shadow of water and put you in it, you will drown and stuff like that."

"I attacked you two with fire?" I cried, horrified. I mean, sure, it probably wouldn't do much for Natsu since he'd probably eat it but it would for Gray…

"Don't worry about it!" shrugged off Natsu. Gray nodded and looked at Aston, "But, if shadow fire is just like ordinary elemental magic, why is it so rare? You could just, I don't know, shove a lacrima inside yourself and you'd have flames that burn and water that can drown people. So how are shadow elements different?"

"There is a significant difference," said Aston, "If, if the day would ever come, Lucy were to set you on fire," I swallowed, feeling a bit sick at the thought of burning Gray, "the flame would not go out no matter how much water you put on it. The only way to get rid of it is to extinguish the real form of the fire. For example, Lucy couldn't use her fire fist anymore because Natsu put out his fire, the base for the shadow."

"I see," said Natsu, "So if I hadn't put out my fire, Lucy would've really killed us."

I was aware my face was turning pale. Fancy that, when I wished for them to not kill each other, I would be the one who nearly murdered them. I wondered about that fortune Celina gave me. _'…Something you've wanted for a while will appear when you least expect it but it is not as great as it seems…'_

Celina must have been talking about the shadows. I had wanted the ability to summon them for a while but when I actually got it, it wasn't particularly great as I had thought it to be. Although I stayed positive and was sure if I could tame the shadows and took control next time, it would be good.

"What did you do, Aston?" I asked.

"What do you mean, 'what did you do?'?" asked Aston.

"If I was in some sort of… trance and lost control over the shadows, you must have done something to cancel everything and return me to normal. What was it?"

"A seal," answered Aston, "Things were really starting to look dangerous so I jumped in and made a seal to force the shadows to go back to the Shadow World. And no," he said, cutting me off when I started, "I can't teach you. Everything about shadows, you have to learn yourself."

"What happened today nearly got us all killed!" I said, "It's too dangerous for me to just learn myself and suddenly activate at the wrong time!"

"Precisely why many people have quit learning about shadows," said Aston, "I'm not judging you and saying you are making the right or wrong decision, it's up to you whether you continue or quit. But I can't teach you anything."

I flinched. Of course I never expected learning shadows to be so easy but at the risk of other people's lives? I nearly burnt Gray to death today or stabbed a stake through Natsu. For a second, I considered giving it all up because of those reasons.

"She'll continue doing it," said Gray suddenly. I looked up and saw them both smiling at me.

"Yeah, she will," agreed Natsu.

"You guys—" I said but then my thoughts came back to hit me, "But… it'll be continuously dangerous to be around me. Aston won't always be here to save us."

"Like that's important," shrugged Natsu, "This is what you want to do, right?"

"Well, yeah," I said sheepishly since I had progressed so far and I wasn't the type to just give up everything without finishing it, "But you two—"

"You always put others before yourself, you know," said Gray, "You should get what you want once in a while. It's only fair."

"At the expense of your lives!" I said.

"We won't die so easily," laughed Natsu. I had to smile, that was true. Even if Natsu and Gray were hanging onto their lives by a thread, they would keep on finding other threads to hang onto. They were like immortal, it was scary.

"I suppose…" I said unsure.

"WHOO!" shouted Natsu happily. He turned to Gray, "So about that fight…"

"Don't you start!" I scolded.

"Obviously Lucy won't let us decide that way," said Gray, "So, we'll just have to win her like other people."

"But it's so boring!" whined Natsu.

"What? Are you forfeiting?"

"NO!"

"May the best man win, then," grinned Gray, practically over-flowing with self-confidence.

Natsu grinned, equally as cocky and shook hands with him.

I was about to protest but stopped myself. This was the most rational and safest outcome. There was nothing I could suggest that would be any better.

_But… in the meantime… WHO DO I LOVE? _I screamed in my head. I couldn't choose both of them! I was sure I loved Gray but lately Natsu…

"Well, we're going," said Natsu and Gray, treating each other like old pals. I shook my head, hardly believing not ten minutes ago, they were set on killing each other, _I will never understand male relationships…_

When they were both gone, Aston turned around and walked off, "Well, I'm going to leave. See you, Lucy."

"E-Eh? Wait! What?" I looked around, suddenly by myself.

_Ah… _I cried, anime-style, _what do I do now…?_


	21. Theory

Chapter Nineteen: Theory

**Lucy's POV**

_Boy… what a day… _I lied down on my bed and sighed heavily. The good news was Gray still loved me, I had managed to summon shadows and Aston had showed up before something awful happened. The bad news was now that I had committed myself to another guy, I couldn't exactly break free without, well, breaking his heart. Plus I wasn't even sure I could choose. Before I was certain I loved Gray. But now I had a strange feeling with Natsu too.

It was already dark outside by the time I calmed myself down enough to be able to drag myself to my apartment. Plus I had stuffed myself at a nearby restaurant because I was nervous and people ate when they're nervous. Although I made sure not to eat too much to keep my figure in check. Then I went back home and prepared myself for bed. Though I suspected I would never get to sleep anytime soon, instead probably pulling an all-nighter worrying.

Just as I suspected, no matter what I did, the problems haunted me like a bad memory. I tried everything, thinking of things that made me sleepy like a long lecture from the Master, counting sheep, I nearly even got up to warm up some milk before I thought twice and decided I didn't feel like it.

Finally, I got up in a huff and walked to the window, opening it and staring at the sky. I couldn't find that stand-out shiny star tonight but I didn't worry so much about that. The clock ticked closer to a quarter to one in the morning and I didn't feel drowsy in the least but bored that there were still a few hours before I could go out and confront my problems. Now I would have to wait.

To pass the time, I thought about the fact I was in the middle of a messed up love triangle. Either way, no matter who I chose, one person would be hurt which would, in turn, hurt me. I laughed, although it sounded humourless, because it was ironic. Both boys had promised to never hurt me, yet they were both going to anyway, no matter which path I chose to take. If I chose Gray, Natsu would be hurt. If I chose Natsu, Gray would be hurt and if I chose not to choose them at all, they would both be hurt, so I really couldn't win without feeling the guilt gnaw at me.

_What should I do…? _I thought, leaning over the windowsill. I was completely stumped and Gray and Natsu would probably compete until they were a hundred years old for me. Their perseverance was endless so it was unlikely one of them would give up on me. Looking around for a second, I pressed my hands tightly together and began praying, even though I never really done it before.

_Please, Kami-sama, guide me towards the right path, _I thought mentally and dropped my hands. Even though it did seem to make me feel a tiny bit better, it did nothing to elevate the big problem. Sighing, I turned around and climbed back into bed, dozing off after a few minutes.

_The next morning…_

_So… in the end, I didn't think of anything at all. _I fastened on my belt securely and was about to exit through the door when suddenly I sensed someone in the room. Quickly I turned around, one hand going automatically to my belt, but to my relief, it was only Natsu.

"Ohayo!" he grinned cheerily, "You leave your window open a lot, I've realised."

"Sometimes I wonder why you can't just enter through the door like a normal person," I smiled though and thought, despite everything, Natsu was one of my best friends. It was surprisingly not as upsetting being with him as I thought it would if I thought like that. I'd always thought my mind would be invaded with sadness whenever I was around Natsu or Gray now but it wasn't. Like whenever I was within Natsu's presence, my anxieties melted away and I felt happier and having a childlike excitement.

"Why are you here?" I asked, grinning jokingly to keep it casual but I was actually quite curious, "Trying to butter me up?"

"In a way," admitted Natsu, completely going for the bait, "But I still consider you one of my greatest friends, Luce! A friend dropping in is innocent enough, right?"

"Literally dropping in… Which brings me back to the whole window thing," I said.

We both smiled and laughed. Being with Natsu turned me into a five year old again. It was funny and nice to be around him but did that count as love? I wondered where the line was drawn between friends and lovers since I didn't know anything anymore.

"Anyway, do you want to go to the guild?" asked Natsu, half turning towards the window.

"You know some normal people live beside me," I said, "Don't you think it'd give them a heart attack to see people jump down from a storied building without killing themselves? Let's go through the door. By the way, where's Happy today?"

"Off with Charle again," said Natsu, not seeming bothered in the least. In fact he was grinning, "I think something's going to come between the two."

My hand paused on the doorknob before clumsily turning it. Of course with the amount of time they spent together, something was definitely coming between the two cats. _It's going around a lot nowadays, _I thought, _and it's not even spring yet._

As we walked to the guild, Natsu supplied most of the conversation while I talked along and laughed where necessary. Gray would probably be at the guild and I wondered if they would behave in a civilised manner or bring out World War Three.

As we walked through the guild, I was immediately pulled aside by Cana who looked apologetically at Natsu, who raised his eyebrows but shrugged and moved on, before hassling me.

"Lucy, just what the hell is going on?" asked Cana. I realised Juvia was also standing behind her, looking quite confused.

"What do you mean?" I asked, honestly not knowing what they were talking about.

"Well, I read my tarot cards which showed that a big change happened. And I just assumed it had to be you the change happened for. So, what happened?"

"Well…" I said, "Can we go somewhere a bit more private?"

"Sure," said Juvia and we walked out of the guild and along the river. It wasn't a busy day so the streets were pretty deserted.

"Well, I realised Gray still loved me," I started. I noticed Cana and Juvia both widen their eyes but then smiled.

"Isn't that good?" asked Cana.

"Well, it is," I said, "But… I kind of already made a commitment to Natsu and I'm not entirely sure what I feel for him. Sometimes I think he's just my best friend but then I remember the feeling I had when Natsu kissed me once. I can't just cut that off as nothing."

"Perhaps not," shrugged Juvia, "But, do you have stronger feelings for one more so than the other?"

"I really can't tell," I said, changing direction and walking on the bridge, placing my arms on the edge and leaned out, "I don't want to hurt one of them but I really can't do anything where everyone will be happy."

"Lucy," sighed Cana, coming up beside me and resuming a pose like me except she had her elbow propped up and rested her face on it, "Pain makes people grow to be stronger and better. Heartbreak could be one of those pains. No matter what you choose, it will benefit everyone in the long run."

"But I never want to hurt anybody…" I said.

"You can't go through life without disappointing one person at least once," said Cana, "Sometimes you have to accept that you can't impress everyone and still keep your own happiness in check. There would be no point in trying."

"Why not?" I said. They both flinched.

"Even if I don't succeed, I never give up on anything before I try," I smiled at them and turned around to walk back to the guild.

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Cana watched Lucy go with a smile, "That's Lucy for you."

"I thought you were being too harsh with your words," said Juvia, laughing slightly.

"But we made Lucy more determined and happy instead of dwelling on the problem depressingly all the time," said Cana, shrugging, "Speaking of which, why do you think Lucy says she felt something when Natsu kissed her? I was certain she and Gray were a match made in Heaven."

"I still am," said Juvia, "I have a theory of why Lucy thought she felt something."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Lucy's POV**

As I re-entered the guild, I spotted Gray sitting at a large, crowded table with most of the members from the guild. He looked up and brightened when he saw me. For the first time in a long time, I finally saw light in the darkness of his eyes now that our misunderstandings were cleared up. Smiling back and I went over and sat down in a spare seat, incidentally, between Natsu and Gray.

"Hey, Lucy!" everyone greeted. I smiled and greeted back. Then everyone began talking again.

Gajeel, who had come down from upstairs for once, was the first to speak after the greetings were exchanged, "Hey, you three," he eyed me, Natsu and Gray suspiciously, "Were you in the forest yesterday?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Natsu.

"I was walking around there and I picked up something," said Gajeel, "It smelt like you three so Lily and I went to check it out. What the hell were you three doing?"

"What do you mean, what were we doing?" asked Gray, playing dumb.

"I could still smell smoke in the air," he looked directly at Natsu, "Ice shards were on the ground," he eyed Gray, "and something generally didn't smell right. Like something evil had been there or something. Plus I smelt someone else. A scent I hadn't smelt before. What were you three doing? Ganging up on some stranger and killed him or something? Besides, he smelled faintly of a dark guild. And whatever smelt evil travelled around with him too."

_The stranger must be Aston and the 'evil things' must be the shadows, _I thought. Though I tried to think quickly, I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. As none of us spoke, Gajeel and the others stared at us, seeming suspicious.

"Well, we—" began Natsu but he was suddenly cut off by Wendy.

"The way I see it," she said, smiling sweetly, "Is that Gray and Natsu are competing for Lucy…"

An anime arrow hit the table with the kanji 'SHE'S RIGHT!' on it.

"… The unknown person was a dark guild member but he quit or left because the scent was faint. And Gray, Natsu and Lucy must be friends with him because he left the scene without being harmed by them…"

Another arrow hit the table.

"…The 'evil things' would be something from a rare magic technique, possibly used by the unknown person and Lucy is possibly learning this type of magic. Am I right?"

A huge anime-boulder fell down on all of us with the kanji 'HOW DID SHE KNOW?' on it.

"How did you know everything?" shouted Natsu, "Wait, were you there?"

"Ooh…" everyone clapped for Wendy who was just smiling, "Sugoi, Wendy!"

"It wasn't very hard to figure out, considering everything," Wendy smiled innocently.

_Just what kind of person is hiding behind that sweet smile? _I thought, looking at her, _she figured out everything with that brief description from Gajeel!_

"Anyway, an ex-Dark Guild member?" asked Lisanna, "Were you all OK?" she asked concernedly.

"Yeah, we're fine!" grinned Natsu. Lisanna smiled back, re-assured.

"Still… seriously, how many things are you guys keeping from us?" asked Bisca, "Is Happy in on it, too?"

"Some of it…" said Natsu, "But the point is nothing bad is happening! That's all that matters, right?"

Natsu had a natural talent to change the topic without anyone suspicious. While he was doing so, Gray spoke to me, "Lucky…"

"Yeah," I said, "I don't think they'd approve of me summoning supposed death-bringers."

"Hey…" said Gray, "Are you free? Want to go on a date? Back to that river? Like last time?"

"When we went ice skating?" I asked. Gray nodded. I smiled, "OK. When?"

"Tonight," said Gray, "Remember to dress warmly, all right?"

"Yeah," I replied, already looking forward to tonight, "I'll be there."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**So, the Natsu and Gray battle begins! Although they have to do it in a civilised manner so Lucy won't yell at them. XD**

**Anyways, I thought I would add in some suspicions since surely, huge explosions in the forest wouldn't go unnoticed by someone. :)**

**Review~**


	22. Suffering

Chapter Twenty: Suffering

_Skipping to that night…_

**Lucy's POV**

It is never easy having two guys competing for you. During the whole day, Natsu and Gray were always 'coincidentally' interrupting the other's time with me. I sighed when I thought back on it.

_Flashback_

"_So tonight?" I asked._

"_Yeah," replied Gray, "I'll be waiting—"_

"_SO!" Natsu suddenly cut in, "What are you both talking about?"_

"_Uh…" I said, sweat-dropping as he squished himself in between Gray and me. Gray glared at him threateningly. _

… … … … … … … … … … … … _.. … .. … .. … .. … .. … .. … .. … … .. … … ... … ... ... … .. … … .. … … … _

"_There still aren't any missions," sighed Natsu as we sat together._

"_Well, don't worry, there will be one eventually," I replied, smiling._

"_Thanks, Luce," grinned Natsu, his hand about to wrap around mine._

_Suddenly, an ice stake hit the table._

"_AH!" I cried, looking up._

_Gray smiled apologetically, "Sorry I missed the bullseye."_

_I looked at the darts board on the opposite side of the guild and sighed, _you've got to be kidding me…

_Flashback ends_

Yeah. So the entire day, I couldn't spend more than two minutes alone with either of them. It was rather annoying really. Did they really think isolating the other person was going to make me choose them? Sighing, I pulled on a plain shirt and long, cream coloured sweater with black leggings and leather boots. I would have to say something about the 'isolation' method with Gray tonight. Then maybe he'd get the hint.

As I approached the familiar spot, my heart began racing in the usual way. It was fairly cold and the area was more and more covered with soft snow and ice the further I went into it. Gray had overdone himself.

Finally, I appeared in sight from the line of trees. The clearing was beautiful. The lake shone, clear as a mirror with a layer of ice and little drifts of snow lay about. As I was admiring the clearing, a voice sounded through the air, "Like it?"

I turned around and Gray was right there, as if he'd been there the entire time. He probably had been, actually.

"It's beautiful," I assured him, "I can't believe you did all this. You didn't waste all your magic power, right?"

"Relax," said Gray, "I always keep a reasonable amount stored."

"Good," I said, smiling, "Anyway, what do you want to do?"

"What else?" asked Gray, holding up a pair of skates.

I grinned, "Of course."

Taking the skates from him and putting them on, I stepped onto the ice lake, somehow already comfortable with skating and skated out. A moment later, Gray was also on. The ice was sturdy enough to hold the both of us, luckily.

"This time you can't sneakily get off and leave me on by myself," I said.

"Hai, hai," said Gray, but he was smiling slightly.

"Then everything's good," I said, skating off. Somehow my body learnt to skate on its own as I glided around on the ice. Gray was better than me of course and barely stopped for a second as he flew around. I stopped to catch my breath as I watched him, who barely had a sweat-drop. Suddenly he stopped across from me, "Are you tired?"

"Well, a normal person would be," I replied, "We've been skating for a while."

"Hm, true," said Gray, looking at all the skating lines in the lake, "Well, let's get off then."

"OK," I smiled, only too happy to. I did love skating but it did become tiring after a while when all the adrenaline's worn off.

Gray skated off first and hopped onto a snow drift, his skates disappearing and looked at me to get off as well. I smiled and skated towards the edge but then I heard a crackling sound which sounded through the air loudly since it was so quiet. Then I felt the ground give out beneath me.

"Ah—!" I screamed, cut off as I plunged into the water below. It was freezing as Gray had previously froze this lake, thus affecting the temperature. Plus the fact my clothes were completely not waterproof and soaked straight through immediately was not helping the situation.

I blinked and all I saw was the navy blue of the lake. The light shone above me but as I tried to swim towards it, my limbs wouldn't move. No matter how much I tried to, they just wouldn't respond to my orders. I was sinking quite quickly and some cold water rushed down my throat. But even as this all happened in a mere few seconds, only one thought went through my mind apart from the futile orders for my body to move.

_Don't come into the water, Gray! _I thought, nearly shouting it aloud but thinking better of it. Only more water would get into me and besides he wouldn't be able to hear me anyway since I'm shouting underwater.

The thing was, even if Gray could adapt to somewhat cooler environments than a normal human being, even he couldn't take the freezing temperatures of a frozen lake like this. If I were to drown, freeze or whatever else happened in freezing lakes, I would rather to without someone else dying alongside me.

_That doesn't leave anyone else to help me, so… _I thought as everything began to slowly turn black. The last thing I saw was a glow.

…

All around me was pitch black. Funny that I could still think actually. Didn't I drown in the lake? I had been almost certain about that. Unless some miracle had occurred and I had somehow floated back up to the surface. But that seemed unlikely.

I could feel someone shaking me, shouting my name. I was a bit annoyed about that. I just wanted to sleep, was that so wrong? I didn't even get much sleep lately because of—

_Gray! _My thoughts suddenly remembered everything and I opened my eyes and sat up, gasping for breath and my eyes wide. I looked around at the white landscape, still covered with snow. Then finally on the face beside me.

"Lucy!" said Gray in relief. He hugged me so tightly, I nearly couldn't breathe, "You're all right! Wait, are you? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm… fine…" I said, placing a hand to my hair. It was still wet so it hadn't been very long since I was rescued. I looked at Gray. He was dry so he didn't come diving in after me luckily.

"What happened?" I asked, squeezing some water out of my hair.

"You were rescued… somehow," said Gray, "I was trying to get you by sticking my hand in but you had already sunk too far. So I just made a long tube out of ice and threw it in so you could maybe stick it out and breathe and decided to run and go find Natsu. He'd probably be able to do something unlike me so I ran off, but before I even got out of the clearing, a saw a glow and I turned around to find you lying on the ice!"

"You didn't see… what happened? Or who rescued me?" I asked.

"No," Gray shook his head, "But thank God he or she or whatever helped you by doing whatever he or she did. You seem to be getting warmer so that's good. You don't feel any pain at all, right?"

"No, just shock… and curiosity," I admitted, "I would like to thank whoever helped me…"

Gray smiled, "That's good."

"Are you sure you didn't see anyone?" I asked.

Gray shook his head, "No one. Just that glow, whatever it was."

I frowned. What glowed anyway? Gray didn't see anyone so…

"Wait," I said, "Do you think it could have been… the shadows?"

"Shadows?" said Gray, thinking, "Possibly."

"But… But they don't even like me," I said.

"Lucy, you lost control over them once but that doesn't mean they hate you."

"Well, if they did like me, they would have come out way earlier, wouldn't they?"

"Well…" said Gray, frowning. For once, I had stumped him. I couldn't think of a reason why they would bother coming out but it was nice to think they did all the same.

"Come on," said Gray finally when he couldn't find a good response, "We'll get you somewhere warm first so you won't catch a cold. Sorry about this Lucy. I should have checked the ice first." He sounded depressed; seeming to think my falling into the lake was his fault. He'd placed an arm around me since some feeling was still lost in my legs and I was walking pretty weirdly, nearly falling down altogether.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," I said consolingly.

"No it's not fine," said Gray, "How many times have I almost let you die in front of me? When you got shot at Fallen Dark, when you ran away to Demon Crosses, I didn't even stop you when I saw you using all that magic power in the forest even though I knew the consequences! And now…"

"You shouldn't put all the burden on yourself," I said, "I made all those choices myself. Well not the lake one but it's not your fault I happen to weigh a couple more grams than the lake can take. But all the others; I chose to protect you, to go to Demon Crosses in secret and to try to summon shadows. I chose this whole lifestyle. Being a mage, you're always in constant danger no matter what. I chose all this; it was my decision alone. So don't blame yourself for things I do in order to become the mage I want to be. A mage like my mother."

Gray was quiet during my whole big speech. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad sign. I was grateful for Gray trying to protect me but there was a fine line between protecting me and taking the blame for everything I chose to do.

"In our guild, everyone has lost an least one person," Gray finally spoke, "I lost IU, Natsu- Igneel, Cana- Her mother, Erza- Jellal, etc. And you were no different because you lost your mother, Lucy. At first we were more carefree. You were one of us, no different to everyone else. But then it changed."

"How?" I asked, baffled. I didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

"But then you kept on losing everything at some point," said Gray, "You lost your mother, Fairy Tail when you were kidnapped by Phantom Lord, your Spirits in Demon Crosses, even your own identity by that Kyrie person. You lost just about everything at some point, Lucy. Everyone knows the terrible feeling just by losing one significant part of their life but you've lost just about everything significant in your life. You've suffered more than anyone in our guild."

"But I got it all back," I pointed out, "My Spirits, Fairy Tail, my identity…"

"But you had still suffered from it," said Gray, "You've been through more than anyone. It isn't just me. Everyone is really protective of you and we all feel the need to shield you from anymore suffering. That's why… we're always like that. Especially Team Natsu and Mira because we know about you losing your Spirits and identity while no one else, except maybe Wendy, does."

"Is that why everyone is so protective?" I said, "Because they think I've suffered more losses than anyone?"

"You always put on a brave face," said Gray quietly as we entered town, "We all thought you must have been hurting behind that. So Natsu, Happy, Erza and I usually dropped in at your apartment to see how you were doing and things like that."

"You've been thinking that way for a long time," I said. Now that I thought about it, it did seem everyone did drop into my place more often after every 'loss' I experienced.

"Yeah," said Gray.

"Then you're wrong," I said bluntly.

Gray blinked at me, "Huh?"

"Ever since I came to Fairy Tail, I have not truly suffered once," I said quietly, "Sometimes I felt sad and hopeless of course but I always had faith in my guild so I never truly suffered without that sliver of hope. Any losses I've had, I've regained. Even Mother is still around me always." I remembered the time she appeared in my dream and when she appeared in the town when I went running after Juvia that time.

"I don't hide behind a brave face," I continued, "I never think about any of my 'suffering'. As long as I returned home to Fairy Tail, I never found the point to make myself suffer. I don't need everyone's protection. I am grateful for it but you don't even have to protect me from any suffering." We'd reached the front of my apartment. I stood up by myself, the feeling in my legs returning and turned around to face Gray, holding up my hand with the Fairy Tail stamp on it so he could see it, "As long as I have this mark with me, I'll never suffer."

With that, I smiled and gave Gray a quick kiss on the cheek, "Thanks for the date. I'll see you tomorrow."

Just as I turned to walk away, Gray reached out and took my wrist, "Wait."

He tugged me back, turning me around and pressed his lips to mine.

It lasted only a few seconds but that's all it took for my adrenaline to rocket up. Then Gray pulled away and smirked, "_Now _I'll see you tomorrow."

"Baka," I said as I went back into my apartment, smiling.

_I've made another step towards becoming an independent mage, ne, Mother?_

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**Twenty chapters! Whoo-hoo! XD**

**Anyways, I wanted to fit in a couple of chapters in which Lucy is also growing into an independent mage, learning to stand on her own feet and to stand up for herself. I like it when this happens in stories, animes, etc. so I thought I might include it in mine instead of writing straight romance in every single chapter. But I have included little snippets of romance for lovers out there. **

**Tell me what you think~ **


	23. Jorgen

Chapter Twenty-One: Jorgen

**Lucy's POV**

It was incredibly hot the next day. I felt strange to say the least with my body coping with different types of weather every day. Yesterday I nearly froze to death and today I was about to have a heat stroke. I wondered if my body would get sick with all these different transitions. Still, it was boiling hot so I wore my signature blue and white outfit and black boots.

_Today I'll probably spend the day with Natsu, _I decided while I tied up my hair and left my apartment. Yesterday I had spent time with Gray so today was Natsu's day. It seemed only fair. It was like having divorced parents. You spent time with both to make sure both of them still felt they were cared about and valued in their child's life.

I entered the guild and was nearly bowled over by Natsu as soon as I opened the door, "Lucy!"

"Ah!" I said in shock as I was knocked to the ground, "Geez, Natsu! Baka!" I said, hitting him on the head lightly and laughing, "What is it?"

"I found an interesting thing!" said Natsu, excitedly holding up a piece of paper. I looked at the bright piece of paper he was holding, "Magic Council Anniversary Celebration? What is that?"

"It's an annual celebration for the day the Magic Council formed. There's a festival and fireworks and some big parade thing in the next town. We can get there by train in 20 minutes. How about it?"

"Natsu, are you an idiot?" I said, rolling up the paper and smacking him on the head lightly, "This is a celebration for the Magic Council! Like they're going to let us in what with everything we've done! They've been chasing us for God knows how long and we're constant trouble for them."

"But you have to admit, despite all the damage we've done, we've helped a lot of people, destroyed a couple of evil organisations and helped the Magic Council more than we've burdened them. The Council invites all the good guilds that have helped them in the past year and we're invited because of our good deeds. And you know how mages only make up 10% of the population, right?"

I nodded and he continued, "So also in addition to the guilds being invited for their good deeds, they're also required for their magic to make the festival successful. Make the festival entertaining for the other spectators and stuff. So that's the trade off. We're invited and get all the free food and enjoying the festivities and stuff and in return, we use our magic to make the parade and games exciting for others. Pretty cool, right?"

"Is the whole guild coming?" I asked.

"Well, most of the guild wanted to stay behind and protect Fairy Tail. We wouldn't want some other dark guild taking advantage of our absence. But most of the guild is coming. Lisanna, Elfman, Levy, Juvia, Gajeel, Gray, Wendy and all that. Of course the Council was worried about Juvia and Gajeel, having formerly been in Phantom Lord but Gramps convinced them they wouldn't cause any trouble. Erza and Mira came back early and they're coming along too."

"That's great!" I said, "But… wouldn't it be dangerous to have both the S-Class mages off with us since Gildarts is never even here?"

"Gramps is staying," said Natsu, "He wants to protect the guild and he's also probably in trouble with the Council for burning their orders so he doesn't really want to go."

"Ah… I see…" I said, thinking, _karma…_

"Anyway, it's today and we have to leave right now. Have you packed?"

"Packed?" I said, scratching my head and then my head expanded anime-style, "Of course I haven't! You only told me just now! Wait," my head turned back to its normal size, "How long are we staying there?"

"Um… about three or four days, including today. After the festival's done for today, we just figured we might as well stay there for a while and take a break and stuff."

"OK," I shrugged, not remembering anything important happening for the next few days, "I'll go back to pack." I turned back around and left the guild. Natsu tagged along beside me.

"So, what exactly is this town we're heading to anyway?" I asked to fill the silence.

"It's a place called Jorgen. Some big tourist town with lots of people and great stuff! Happy and I have been there a few times. It's really cool!"

"A tourist town?" I said as I reached my apartment and tugged out my large duffel bag, "So… hotels or inns or something we're staying at?"

"Yeah, a hotel," said Natsu, "Erza and Mira's mission paid them a lot so they offered to pay for the living arrangements. You're sharing a room with me, Happy and Gray."

"And Erza?" I added hopefully. If Natsu and Gray started a fight, there'd be no way I'd be capable of stopping it. Well, unless I somehow got in a trance again and tried to assassinate everyone, but we'd be in a hotel room so that wouldn't end well.

"No, Erza's in another room with Cana, Juvia and Wendy," said Natsu, "Mira, Lisanna and Elfman are together and I heard Gajeel's in the same room as Levy. Why? It's not like Gray and I are going to peek at you in the shower or anything."

"That's not it!" I said, stuffing some clothes for both cold and warm weather in my bag as well as a few books and different types of shoes, "It's just… Promise me you won't fight with Gray."

"Didn't we already promise that?" said Natsu.

"You just thought fighting would upset me, which it does by the way, but you never promised anything. Please, Natsu."

Natsu blinked and probably saw something in my face which made him serious so he nodded, "All right, I promise."

"Thank you," I said, getting up, "All right, let's go to the train station."

_At the train station…_

"Lucy!" called Levy, waving her hand, "Over here! Natsu!"

"Hey!" I called, waving back, grinning. Luckily for me, I had dressed right and everyone was in more summery clothes.

"Isn't this exciting?" said Juvia once I was near and everyone began talking to one another, waiting for the train, "This is Juvia's first time going to the festival! We've never been invited before because of, well, what guild we belonged to."

"It's my first time; too," added Wendy, smiling sweetly, "Cait Shelter never existed so we never really were invited for many things."

"It's my first time, too," I smiled, sharing her excitement. It really did sound exciting with everyone's reaction about it. Even Gajeel seemed more interested than he usually looked as he talked to Levy, _Go get her, Gajeel… I won't forgive you if you don't…_

Finally the train pulled up and we piled into one empty carriage, excitedly talking and playing around. I sat in the same couple of seats with Mira and Erza.

"So, this is your first time, isn't it, Lucy-san?" said Mira. Mira now wore her purple outfit since my dangerous venture to Demon Crosses and became the Demon Mirajane again. Though she says she isn't exactly the same as before. She claims she's learnt how lonely it is on her own with the 'loss' of Lisanna and has become kinder when she fights someone. Although if it is someone who is all-around evil (like some poor guy on her recent mission), Mira will unleash hell on them.

"Yeah," I replied to her question, "Is the festival as great as everyone says?"

"Of course it is," said Erza from the other side of me, "You'll understand when you get there. Especially the parade at the end with the mages' involvement; that's the best bit."

_At Jorgen…_

"OK, we're here," said Elfman as we walked down the busy streets. Jorgen really was the most glamorous town I had ever seen. The streets were lined with huge department stores and houses and fancy restaurants and cafes. There were also casinos and bars, Magic shops and perhaps a couple of guilds were squeezed in somewhere. But nearly every square metre had one fancy thing in it. It was a lot flashier than Magnolia.

The hotel was no different. It was a large, wide, modern-looking building with fancy carvings in the building and glass doors. There were about eight storeys in total. I gaped at it until Gajeel pulled me back down to Earth and said sarcastically, "We're staying inside, you know."

Inside, the lobby was wide and was beautiful to match the exterior. The floor was probably marble (something I hadn't seen in a long time really since most floors were wooden) and there were entire lounge suites placed around glass coffee tables and large windows reaching from the ceiling to the floor.

"It's so beautiful," I whispered to Wendy. I didn't know why I was whispering but it seemed like the right thing to do. In places like these, everyone just talked in hushed voices.

"I know," said Wendy, looking around in awe, "I never saw anything like this before. But you have, haven't you, Lucy-san?"

I shook my head, "I rarely even left home when I was little after Mother died. Even before she did, we preferred to stay in more casual places than this. But we never travelled much."

"Lucy, here," said Erza suddenly. I looked up in time to catch a small polished gold key, "Your hotel room key. You better not lose that! Wendy, come on."

"Hai!" said Wendy, walking ahead. Gray, Natsu and Happy came to stand by me, "What room number are we?"

"Um…" I looked at the engraved number, "Number 32. Let's go."

After, leaving our bags in the safety of the hotel (our room was fancy of course but beautiful), we met outside and began walking towards the festival area.

_I wonder what the festival is like? _I wondered as I walked. Suddenly someone pulled me back. I looked behind me and one hand went instinctively to my belt but it was only Juvia. She smiled, "You wouldn't want to walk there, Lucy. We've arrived at the festival area."

Suddenly a large geyser of water erupted from where I was standing a second ago. Many others shot upwards and moved around in different colours.

"What is that?" I said.

"Geysers," said Gray, "This happens every year. It acts as a sort of security. There are lots around town. Whenever mages from a guild come, they activate these and check if we are real mages from our guild first."

"And water is supposed to act as a security?" I asked, "I think anyone could go through this."

"Well, a Water mage probably made these," said Juvia, "It's just like my Water Slicer so whatever droplet of water touches you slices you. My Water Slicer can cut through solid rock and this one is much stronger."

"OK, I take that back," I said, looking at the geysers more carefully. Now that I looked at it, the water drops and overall geyser looked like sharp blades about to cut someone. Before they touched the ground though, they stopped about a centimetre above the ground and got sucked back into the geyser so the land wouldn't be damaged by the water. It really was quite a good security system. I looked around the area where the festival was taking place. Geysers were in place as far as the eye could see. I was quite amazed at the lengths the Magic Council would take to make sure the event would go ahead without a problem.

"OI! SECURITY PEOPLE!" yelled Natsu.

A bright screen appeared before us, using Archive magic. Two uniformed soldiers looked at us, "Fairy Tail, right?"

"Yeah," said Erza, "We've come for the festival."

"Proof please," requested the second solider.

We each showed our Fairy Tail stamps and Natsu shoved the invitation to the event in the screen for good measure. After we did that, they nodded, "OK. You may enter."

The geysers in front of us switched off as if by remote and the wrought iron gates behind them swung open for us as well. Magic circles appeared above us and dropped a slip of paper in each of our hands.

"That will grant you free food and special privileges for mages," explained one soldier, "In return for your help with the festivities at the end of course, if requested. Please enjoy yourselves and thank you for your help over the year."

"Do the non-mages have to go through that too?" I asked Levy as we walked in.

"No, they have a separate entrance for non-mages," replied Levy, "They have hired mages supervising there to make sure no mage will try and sneak in. Since mages can sense magic power, it's easy to catch a mage trying to break in."

I nodded, "I see." I looked up to see bright banners strung around and stalls selling food and souvenirs and areas sectioned off for games and activities. Many people walked around talking happily, playing games and holding prizes they'd won. Different delicious scents wafted around the area from the food stalls which Natsu and Happy immediately ran to.

"We'll separate for the day but we'll meet when it's time to help with the parade, all right?" said Erza. All of us agreed and went our separate ways. I was with Juvia and Wendy, the two people who were feeling a bit anxious yet excited like me since this was our first time attending this. Gajeel decided to wander off on his own, determined he could find some fun on his own. I actually had a suspicion he was just trying to sneak off and find Levy.

"Anyway, what do you want to try first?" said Juvia, looking around.

On cue, my stomach growled. Juvia and Wendy looked at me and laughed.

"What? I didn't have breakfast yet," I said since Natsu had tackled and hustled me out when I went into the guild.

"Let's get something to eat then," said Wendy.

We approached the nearest stall (selling takoyaki) and Juvia ordered for free because of our special privilege.

"You can also have a free spin of this," said the stall owner, pointing to the thing-you-spin-and-if-a-gold-ball-comes-out-you-win thing*.

"That?" said Wendy, blinking. When the owner nodded, she reached out and spun it, smiling. A silver ball dropped out.

"That's too bad," said the owner kindly and looking at me and Juvia, "What about you two?"

Juvia spun it and the same thing happened. She smiled at me and I shrugged and spun it, expecting the same thing. Suddenly a gold ball dropped out.

"We have a winner!" said the owner, ringing a bell, "Congratulations miss!"

"E-Eh? Me?" I pointed to myself.

"Yep!" said the owner and gave me two tickets along with my takoyaki, "Have a nice time, miss!"

I looked down at the two tickets, "A stay at Crescent Lunar? Crescent… Lunar…? Oh!" I suddenly remembered the island I visited a really long time ago.

_Maybe I'll get to see Chantelle again~ _I thought happily until Wendy interrupted my brief happiness.

"So who will you invite to go with you?" she asked.

"EH? Um…" I said, "Would either of you?"

"Sorry, Lucy, Juvia and I are both busy," replied Wendy, "I heard Erza will be leaving on a solo mission since she has to get some more money to pay her rent, Mira's going on a mission with her siblings, Cana's busy…"

"Maybe I'll just give it to Gajeel and Levy or Bisca and Alzack…" I tried hopefully.

"Those two couples will be going on missions together when we get back," smiled Juvia, "Gajeel sometimes tags along with Team Shadow Gear now, you know. And Bisca-san and Alzack-san are a sniper team, I suppose."

_WHY IS EVERYONE SUDDENLY GOING ON MISSIONS? _I screamed in my head and turned to Charle beside Wendy, "Would you and Happy…?"

"I would like to but no thanks," said Charle, "We both can't leave our partners by themselves since, well, you know."

"Charle, are you trying to say something?" said Wendy.

_WHY? _I shouted in my head. The tickets were too valuable to waste (the prize included a cruise-type trip to the island, all expenses paid for both travel and accommodation plus other great bonuses) and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity since I had won it and I _never _won chance games. I sighed and cursed my somehow good or bad luck depending on how you looked at it.

_So… that leaves… Natsu or Gray. _

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**Chapter Twenty-One! XD**

**Just a small spoiler… This story will end soon in this city~ By the end of their mini-holiday in Jorgen, Lucy would have made her decision and there will be an epilogue at the end~ So just a heads-up. :)**

**Sorry for the late update~ **


	24. Hibiki

Chapter Twenty-Two: Hibiki

**Lucy's POV**

"Lucy, seriously?" said Erza, trying to tug the tickets out of my hand, which I was still staring at, "You've been staring at that all day! I thought your first experience here would be a more memorable one than just staring at these things."

"Uh-huh," I nodded, not really paying attention. Juvia and Wendy had gone off eventually to their own preferences and I decided to spend some time with Erza instead.

"OK, that's it…" said Erza, getting a sword out of thin air, "It seems the only way to take your mind off them is to cut them up!"

"No!" I said, stuffing them in my pocket, "Sorry, Erza!"

Erza sighed and made the sword disappear, "Really though Lucy, you could just go by yourself. Or just summon Loke and get him to go with you. You don't necessarily have to use both of them."

"I know but…" I said. I wished there were three tickets so I could take both of them.

"OK, we're going over there," said Erza, taking my arm and dragging me to a building with a sign stating, 'Haunted House'.

"No way, no way, no way!" I immediately said but Erza glared at me, "OK…"

"Good because we're creating fun memories, all right?" said Erza, suddenly changing back to her nice self. She dragged me inside the Ghost House after showing the mages' slip to the owner.

_Fun…? _I thought but didn't say it aloud for fear of Erza's anger.

I had to admire the attraction though. It was dark and the floors creaked like a real haunted house. Sound effects must have been put in to make the sounds of snakes and bats, etc. There was also something else…

"Illusion magic?" I thought aloud. I sensed some sort of magic power in the air and could distinguish some things that could only have been created with magic.

"You're sharp today," said Erza approvingly, "Well, it makes the overall effect better, don't you think?"

Suddenly the floor cracked beneath us.

"Ah!" I screamed as we fell down to the floor beneath. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to break or not so I didn't bother using magic and I didn't have the time to, anyway. I could tell I landed on something and it broke my fall.

"Erza?" I said, looking around.

"I'm fine," said Erza, naturally landed on her feet, unlike me, "That surprised me. It's never happened before." She waved away the smoke and dust from the floor breaking.

"Lucy-san?" said a new voice, a male.

"Huh?" I said, looking beside me, "Hey, you, you…" I racked my brain for the name and finally found it, "Jura!"

Sure enough it was him. He was tall as ever and well-built. He smiled at me and Erza, "It's been a while hasn't it? I haven't seen you two since the Oracion Seis mission."

"Well, if you're here, then aren't Sherry and Lyon…?" said Erza.

"Well, Sherry's somewhere around the house," replied Jura, "She stepped through a trapdoor or something."

"And Lyon?" I asked, remembering Gray's childhood friend and ice mage.

"Well…" said Jura, looking at me. Erza followed his gaze and seemed to suppress laughter.

"What?" I said.

"Lucy, Lyon's…" said Erza, laughing.

I looked beneath me to see I fell on the member of Lamia Scale. Moreover, I fell so my breasts were on his face.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" I cried, getting off him. Erza was laughing her head off.

"Fairy Tail," said Lyon, sitting up and seeming to brush off the issue of me landing on him, "You're here too? Erza and Lucy?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Um… Thanks for breaking my fall."

"That's OK," said Lyon.

"You're secretly blushing inside aren't you?" said Jura.

"You are too, aren't you Lucy?" said Erza as both she and Jura smiled amusingly or sniggered.

"U-URASAI!" both of us yelled.

"Anyway, since Lamia Scale is here…" said Erza, "Blue Pegasus is too, right? Hm… You and Hibiki were getting it on last time, eh, Lucy?"

"ERZA!" I shouted and then suddenly thought of a comeback, "Like you and Ichiya were, isn't that right…?"

That worked. Erza immediately stiffened and turned to stone anime-style before recovering and her head expanded, "AS IF!"

I laughed as Erza began shivering and hyperventilating at the mention of the man's name.

"Hm… So Erza-san had that weakness?" said Lyon.

"Lucy, you're laughing," smiled Erza as she turned around, recovered, "Stopped worrying, right?"

"Eh? Worrying over what?" asked Jura, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, she got two tickets on some luxurious holiday and is wondering whether to invite Natsu or Gray since she has a thing for both of them," smiled Erza mischievously.

"Since when did you find out…?" I said, not remembering an instance when I told her about Natsu and Gray.

"A thing for Gray, eh?" said Lyon, seeming interested in that, "Well, I have to admit you two seemed extra close during that Oracion Seis thing. But I honestly thought you would get into a relationship with Natsu…"

"Are we really discussing this?" I shouted.

"This is important Lucy," said Erza, "Well, on one hand, I suppose having Gray would be cheaper since he barely wears any clothes and that's one thing off your list of stuff to buy… But then again Natsu's not that much better with that flimsy waistcoat of his…"

"Since when is my decision based on which person is cheaper to have?" I yelled, "And besides, we should really figure out how to get out. I don't think that was supposed to happen when we fell through the floor."

"Well, that's a point," nodded everyone, "In that case…" Everyone's magic circles suddenly appeared.

"Shall I be of assistance, Hime?" asked Virgo, suddenly appeared.

"Don't destroy the place!" I cried, "The Magic Council will definitely kick us out when we destroy this!"

"Yeah, you're right," said Lyon, "Well, what do you suggest we do then—"

Suddenly the ceiling cracked and some people fell down.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" shouted Lyon, at the base of the pile of people.

"Eh? Lyon!" said a familiar voice. As the dust cleared, I saw the face of the speaker.

"Gray!" said Lyon.

"Hey, you're the other ice-make guy!" said Natsu, sitting up and dusting the debris off his head.

"Natsu!" said Erza, "And who else is—"

"Erza, my honey!" cried a voice as a little man scrambled out of the pile and ran to Erza's side, "As usual, you have wonderful parfume!"

"I-Ichiya-san!" I cried, "Then that means…"

"Lucy-san," said a male voice.

_Yep… _I thought, turning around.

My cheek was cupped and gently lifted up by none other than Hibiki.

"We've missed you," said Hibiki, winking.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" shouted Gray and Natsu simultaneously.

"Eh? Where are the other two?" I said, remembering Eve and Ren.

"Somewhere else in the house," replied Hibiki. I was aware he was still holding my face, "I sent them a message via Archive magic to let them know where I am. We'll meet up once we're out."

"I see," I said, gently taking his hand and took it off my face. I knew he was a somewhat womanizer but I was hoping he had learnt to lay off a little bit over the time we hadn't seen them. I turned around, "Er… za…?"

Erza was panting and looked as scared as I'd ever saw her, yet angry and held the humongous mace from her Purgatory Armour. On the ground was a beat up Ichiya who was twitching and said every now and then, "Men…"

"ERZA, WHAT DID YOU DO?" I cried.

"He ambushed me!" shouted Erza, still hyperventilating.

"Aniki!" cried Hibiki, his jaw dropped anime-style, "Are you OK?"

As Hibiki rushed over to the man's side, Gray and Natsu stood up and walked to my side.

"Still a womanizer…" said Gray darkly.

"Yeah…" said Natsu, equally as dark.

"You two never minded his behaviour very much before," I observed, "Now look at you two. Besides, that's just who he is. He doesn't really mean it."

"I beg to differ," said Erza, sidling up next to me, "That guy's got it bad for you, Lucy."

"Erza!" I said. I felt murderous intent at my side and was pretty sure Natsu and Gray had dark auras floating around them.

"Anyway," said Hibiki as Ichiya healed himself with his 'Pain-Relieving Perfume', "We should try and find our way out of here."

"I agree," said Jura, "Well, there are two doors leading out of here. Which do you all think is the right one?"

"Maybe we should split up," suggested Ichiya, "My honey, will you give me the pleasure of coming with me?" He looked charmingly (or tried to, anyway) at Erza.

"No way," said Erza bluntly and turned to Jura and Lyon, "You two, come with me."

"Yes, ma'am," said Lyon who seemed either respectful or scared of Erza's power since her beating up of Ichiya. I didn't blame him. Jura simply nodded and they walked through the closest door.

Suddenly we heard Erza's brief scream as they fell. So either the floor there cracked as well or the door led to nothing and they fell through open space. I didn't hear any cracking of wood so I was leaning more towards the second option.

"Erza!" I cried.

"Lyon!" said Gray.

"Baldy!" said Natsu. Both Gray and I turned to look at him but Natsu was oblivious as always.

"My honey, I will save you!" yelled Ichiya and ran through the door as well, slamming it shut behind him.

Soon after came Erza's scream, followed by a red glow and beating up sounds. Also Jura and Lyon's yells for her to calm down.

"Well, they seem fine," said Gray, "We should get going as well."

"Yeah," I nodded and walked towards the second door, _please don't start a fight, guys…_

I opened the door and, after confirming it was safe to step through, walked through. The door led to a winding corridor. The designers for this Haunted House really outdid themselves. The boys followed me as I walked in dead silence.

_This is so awkward… _I thought and decided to attempt to lighten the mood, "S-So… Hibiki, how are Blue Pegasus lately?"

"Good," replied Hibiki good-naturedly, "Ren and Eve are both going well. Ichiya is craving for his 'honey's' company but apart from that, it's all good. And how are you, Lucy-san?"

I noted he only asked how I was but not Fairy Tail as a whole. But I thought better to be polite, nevertheless.

"I'm fine," I said.

"Natsu and Gray, you two seem quite tense today and a bit uptight," said Hibiki, turning his attention to those two now, "I'm trying to figure out why." He was being sarcastic and it would have practically resulted in him getting beat up had I not been there.

"Watch your mouth, Hibiki…" said Natsu, somehow making it sound like a threat. I gave him a look but he appeared not to have seen it.

Hibiki raised an eyebrow and seemed to realise something, "Heh… so that's how it is…"

"Eh, what?" I asked as we approached yet another door. I opened it as Hibiki was talking; nearly hyperventilating that Hibiki had really figured it out about the current love situation.

"You somehow found out that Lucy flashed on the Oracion Seis mission and now you're trying to seduce her to do the same thing, aren't you?" said Hibiki.

…

"EH?" I yelled, "HIBIKI!"

"Isn't that right?" said Hibiki.

"You flashed on that mission?" said Gray, eyes wide.

"That was Gemini!" I defended myself.

"You've never told us that!" cried Natsu, "I thought we were friends!"

"It's embarrassing! Besides, it wasn't even me!" I yelled, stepping forward through the door, "AH!"

"Lucy!" said both Gray and Natsu, moving forward but Hibiki was closer and reached me first, his arm snaking around my waist, "Are you OK, my princess?"

"OI!" shouted Natsu and Gray.

"I'm fine. Thanks," I said, blushing. Then I noticed Hibiki's arm was slightly shaking, "Is something wrong?"

"Lucy… you're heavy…" said Hibiki, just as we both fell down.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I shouted as we fell, "YOU TOO, HIBIKI?"

"I'm sorry," said Hibiki as we landed on something soft. I looked around and realised we were out. The light seemed unnaturally bright now and hurt my eyes so I brought my hand up to shield them, "Eh? We're out."

"It seems so," said Hibiki, "Well," his magic circle appeared, "I'll just let Ren and Eve know…"

"Lucy, you've made it out," said Erza, approaching me. She was panting and looked tired. Either she was running away from Ichiya or used too much magic power in order to 'defend' herself. I sweat-dropped, _really, Erza?_

"You too," I said, getting up and stepping onto the ground, looking up. It seemed we fell through a chute-type thing and landed on a large springy pillow. Just then, I heard Natsu and Gray's yells, "Lucy!"

"I'm fine!" I called just as they came through and crashed into Hibiki as he hadn't moved.

"T-This guy—!" said Natsu, as he got up, pointing to Hibiki and his canine-type teeth more prominent than usual.

"Did something happen?" asked Erza.

"No, don't worry about it," I said as Natsu, Gray and Hibiki all got into a fight, "O-OI! Stop fighting! Erza, can't you—?"

"I'm all out of magic power…" said Erza, sitting down and panting. I sweat-dropped again. I couldn't use my Spirits for fear they would get hurt if they got too close.

"So, what's going on?" said Lyon as he, Jura and Sherry approached. It seemed Sherry was reunited with her teammates.

"Uh…" I said and suddenly got an idea, "Lyon, sorry to ask but can you…?"

Lyon looked at the fighting cloud and nodded, "Sure."

Within seconds, they were each frozen in their own block of ice reaching up to just below their chins.

"OI, LYON!" yelled Gray, "What the hell are you doing?"

"She asked me to," shrugged Lyon.

I could tell Natsu was already melting the ice so I had to make it quick, "Look, I don't care what issue it is, but I never want you guys to fight over anything like that. It's really dangerous and frankly, stupid as well since we're in the _Magic Council's_ festival and there's a _soldier standing right over there_. Hibiki, please stop provoking them as well, OK? They have a really short fuse."

They seemed stubborn but eventually their anger evaporated and they nodded sheepishly.

"Thanks, you guys," I said and looked at Lyon who nodded and unfroze them.

"Sorry, Hibiki," said Gray once they were unfrozen and warmed themselves up.

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Natsu, "We won't blow up next time."

"Well, sorry for provoking you, guys," said Hibiki as Ren and Eve came into view, "We'll be leaving now, but before that…"

He was quicker than lighting when he approached me and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. Everyone in the area's jaws dropped to the ground.

In the minute of mute shock that followed, Hibiki said quietly so only I could hear, "I know about your actual situation, Lucy. I just provoked Natsu and Gray back there to test their love for you. It seems they both love you deeply. Choose wisely, all right?"

Then he walked to Erza and began flirting with her too, like Eve was. Ren was flirting with Sherry, while I stood there shocked and wide eyed.

As everything turned back to normal during the rest of the day, I began to enjoy the day more and spend time with everyone. At the end of the day, the parade was, as guaranteed, amazing. Geysers of multi-coloured water blasted, an ice castle was featured with actual snow falling, fireworks, people dancing and props were moving as if alive as well thanks to Sherry's magic. It reminded me a lot of Fairy Tail's Fantasia Parade as I danced on one of the floats with Sherry and Cana, wearing cute dresses the Magic Council had specially made.

As I danced, I scanned my eyes over the audience and spotted Hibiki, sitting with the other members of the Trimens, their role in the Parade already done. I smiled at him as I laughed with Cana and Sherry.

_Thank you, Hibiki._

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**Sorry for the late update! :(**

**Anyway, I thought I should put in an extra chapter about the festival and Hibiki should be involved as well~ :D**

**I also included Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale since, well, it's more interesting that way. **

**SPOILER: Lucy will have a deep talk with the Shadows and Cana and Juvia in the next chapter. So, will she finally make her decision? **

**Anyways, review! :)**


	25. Decision

Chapter Twenty-Three: Decision

**Lucy's POV**

I listened to the ticking of the clock on the bedside table next to me and watched the pitch black ceiling since it was so dark. Hibiki had tried to help me today but now I was even more stressed and confused about what to do. I turned around and read the numbers on the clock. 12:32.

Quietly sitting up, I looked around. Gray and Natsu had to share a bed and I had one by myself. Gray was probably naked down to his boxers as usual and Natsu's scarf was still wrapped around his neck. They both slept soundly. I smiled and soundlessly crept out of bed and got dressed. I decided I didn't have to wander around the unfamiliar city and get lost but I could have some sort of privacy.

I parted the thick curtains slightly that covered the windows leading to the balcony and slipped through. Luckily the doors in expensive hotels were well oiled and didn't squeak or anything. I slipped outside onto the white stone balcony easily enough. It was cool but not cold. I breathed in and out calmly and hoped the curtains were thick enough so the light couldn't break through.

_I don't really know how to summon them though… _I thought. The last time I did, it was purely by accident and I was taking a big risk to do this. I tried to trust that I wouldn't lose control of myself. I closed my eyes and said the first words that came to my mind.

"Nikki," I said, "Please help me with your gifts and let me know what I have to do to make things right."

Almost instantly, a magic circle of nearly transparent white and gold opened in front of me. It was luminous but not blindingly bright. Then a dark figure emerged from the circle and floated before me. It appeared to be sitting on the railing of the balcony but actually drifting right above it. Her slightly curly, long hair moved and floated as if she were underwater but there was no wind. I tried to think of the silhouette and who it was a shadow of and it finally came to me.

"You're Cana's shadow, aren't you?" I smiled, "Nikki."

I could somehow feel Nikki's shadow inside my head and feel her emotions and hear her speak.

_Yes, I am Nikki, _she said in my head. She sounded exactly like Cana and was content, _I am Cana's shadow. I am surprised you know my name. That proves you have a good relationship with the shadows. Perhaps that's why I chose you as my mistress._

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm really a 'mistress'," I laughed. I saw I had to actually speak to communicate and couldn't send thought messages. I suppose that was a disadvantage of the Shadows magic, "It feels a bit strange for me to be addressed as one, like I'm supposed to be superior to you or something. I want to be friends with all my Shadows like with my Celestial Spirits. So we'll just stick with Lucy, OK, Nikki?"

I could sense she was a bit surprised but then happy, _OK. You are one of the first people to actually befriend us. The only other who ever did is Aston. _

I smiled, "That's good then, right?"

_Yeah. So, Lucy, why did you summon me out for?_

"Oh yeah. Well, I was hoping you could use your powers to help me?"

_Of course. What would you like me to predict?_

"Um, well…" I said. I would probably be babbling for an hour if I told Nikki everything. So I just decided to cut it down, "…What would happen… if I continued doing what I am?"

Nikki was a bit confused for a second but then concentrated. After a few seconds, she said, _well, if you continue on your current path… I see two men, which I assume are those sleeping inside, competing for your affections for, I can assume, the rest of their lives._

"Oh, God," I sighed. I sort of knew that was coming with their praiseworthy persistence but seriously… I wouldn't be able to avoid the situation then since Aston had said the Shadows' predictions _would _come true.

_Lucy, just what are you trying to avoid? _Nikki was gentle yet firm as she talked.

"Everyone getting hurt, feeling guilty for the rest of my life for one person's heartbreak or even worse both of their heartbreaks if I chose neither, making the wrong decision," I said, "Just to name a few."

_You're trying to make everyone happy but have you thought about who really belongs with whom?_

"Who really belongs… with whom?" I repeated, slightly confused, "What do you mean?"

_You can't give everyone everything they want and make everyone happy. Only one person can make another truly happy. With one of those males, Lucy, one of them makes you truly happy and vice-versa. One of them belongs with someone else who can affect him the way you can't. Who really makes you happy, Lucy?_

"I-I don't know…" I replied, even more confused, "That's what I've been trying to figure out. Why all the riddles? You already know how this ends out, don't you? Can't you just tell me that so I'll know what to do?"

_No, I can't. I do know the outcome but I can't tell you what to do. People learn and grow off situations like this. It helps them become better as individuals. Plus it's much more rewarding when you figure out a situation yourself. I'm not going to take all that away from you. I will give you hints and support you but you're the one who makes the final decision._

"OK," I said, nodding, "I understand. Are there any other hints you can give me, like, I don't know, the initial of his name?"

Nikki laughed, _no, Lucy, no. But I have learnt a quote from Princess Miya before she… well…_

I nodded, "I know. Aston told me."

_She was very wise and kind, possibly the most gifted Shadow that ever lived. She probably predicted this would happen, actually and made a quote especially for it. It went like this:_

'_Everyone's life is a story in which they are the main character and everyone is a character in everyone else's lives. Sometimes, you're an important character and remain through the whole thing while sometimes you disappear before being introduced. Every story is different and they each have a variety of characters. There is always one character that remains throughout the whole thing; loving, protecting and caring for the main character. Sometimes, however, that one character is even more important to someone else and their story. But there is always one character that is always there for the main character in their story and the most important unlike in anyone else's story. Always. Not every story is always happy but no story is ever worthless. Every single story has the potential to be a fairytale. Remember that, Lucy.'_

"Nani?" my head snapped up at the mention of my own name in the quote, "My name is actually a part of the quote?"

_Yes. Princess Miya somehow predicted your name and added that to the quote made specifically for you. She had said she thought it would have helped her human form's daughter since her human form was a very kind mistress to all shadows. _

"Wait, what?" I immediately said, "Her human form's daughter… so Lucy's me and her human form is… My MOTHER? What did… what did she look like?"

_She was beautiful and had her hair in a bun. She was incredibly graceful and kind. _

"That's Mother!" I said, "But… That doesn't make any sense… Mother died when I when ten and Princess Miya died when I was supposed to be five, when Aston was…"

Nikki seemed to think and then said, _someone can live even when their shadow dies. A person can survive without a shadow but a shadow cannot survive without a base. That is just the way it is._

"I guess that makes sense," I conceded, "But… Wait, didn't you say because her human form was kind to the shadows… Did my Mother summon Shadows as well?"

_I don't know. I was only young back then. But there had been talk I recall about a kind human who treated Shadows fairly and kindly unlike any other human back then. That might have been her._

"Wow…" I said, "Mum summoned Shadows… Even her Shadow was looking out for me. I wonder why no one ever said anything about her other magic…?" I touched my keys, Aquarius and Cancer, the ones who had once belonged to my mother, "Do you guys know why?"

A bright light emanated from Aquarius' key and she suddenly appeared, sitting on the railing, close to Nikki.

"I'm just letting you know so you won't spend the whole night dwelling on it," said Aquarius, "I'm supposed to be with Scorpio right now. Anyway, Layla didn't tell anyone about her Shadow summoning because of the reason you aren't. God knows if she did, she'd scare the family half to death what with the chances of summoning shadows safely are very low. But Layla was very skilled and the Shadows liked her until she passed away. That's about all you need to know. Goodbye." With that, she transferred back into the Spirit World again.

"So that's why…" I said, kind of excited at having found out something else about my deceased mother. But I decided to keep quiet about it since no one else needed to know.

_Well, anyway, _said Nikki, _I think I've been out here long enough. Think about the hints I have given you. You will find the answer within yourself. _

As she finished saying this, Nikki slowly seemed to melt away into light. As she disappeared, the light died down until I was standing on the balcony alone. A soft wind blew as I tried to comprehend what Nikki had managed to tell me, but not really going anywhere with it.

'_One character that remains throughout the whole thing'? _I thought, completely confused, _then… doesn't that equal Natsu? I had met him before I met Gray. Then there's that other line 'Sometimes, however, that one character is even more important to someone else and their story'? So… that means Natsu isn't actually the one for me? Or maybe that applied to Gray… God, I don't know…_

While I thought it over a few more times, a quiet knock sounded on the door. I looked back in surprise and raised an eyebrow, _who's up this late?_

I quietly walked back inside and closed the doors and curtains before walking over the plush carpet to the door. Natsu and Gray were still sound asleep, the noise not bothering them at all. I opened the door and was surprised by who I saw.

"Cana? Juvia?" I said in surprise quietly. Like me, they were dressed so they weren't standing there in their pyjamas.

"Lucy, good you're up," said Cana, smiling slightly, "Natsu and Gray are asleep, right?"

I looked back to check. They were still sleeping like logs. I was careful to position the door so the light didn't shine on them.

"Yeah," I turned back, "Why? What's going on, anyway?"

"I was reading my tarot cards again," said Cana, "I read the end of your problem is near. Did you decide what you'd do yet?"

"Not yet," I said, "I… um, heard this from someone else who knows about the problem. I've been thinking about this and trying to see what it means." I repeated the quote of Princess Miya to them.

"Who did you hear that from?" asked Juvia, looking curious.

"Um, just, someone," I said, not ready to talk about the Shadows yet. It was a lot to take in, after all and they already worried about me a lot as it was.

"Well…" said Juvia. She looked at Cana, "I think now I'm even surer of my theory."

Cana nodded, "I think so too."

"You guys are all of a sudden in cahoots about everything," I said, raising an eyebrow, "What are you talking about, anyway? Theory?"

"Well, I made a theory based on things you have told me, Lucy-san," said Juvia, "I talked about it with Cana and I think it's right."

"Well, what's the theory?" I asked.

"It goes back to when Natsu first confessed he loved you and when you two kissed…" said Juvia.

_After the talk (suspense, eh?)…_

"Wow…" I said, once they finished, "I can't believe you two noticed that much simply from me talking about it with you."

"So our theory's correct?" said Juvia.

I nodded, "Yeah. Thanks, you two. Your help means a lot to me."

"Hey, it's no problem, we're friends!" said Cana, putting an arm around me, "We wanted to help you since you were so stressed over it. But you're fine now, right?"

"Yeah," I smiled, "Thanks. You two should really get some sleep."

"You're one to talk," said Juvia, smiling.

"I did get sleep!" I said, realising how much of a pathetic liar I was. Cana and Juvia laughed at my attempt at lying.

"OK, we'll go now," said Cana, letting go of me, "But you'll have to tell Natsu and Gray what you've decided, Lucy. That's the only thing Juvia and I can't help you with."

"I know," I said, "But, really, thank you."

"No problem," said Cana, grinning, "Friends, right?"

"Friends," I smiled back as they walked off. Then I went back inside my room and climbed back into bed. Gray and Natsu were still sleeping, oblivious of my talk with Cana and Juvia which led to me having an epiphany.

_Now I've made my decision. I'll tell them tomorrow night, _I decided as I drifted off to sleep.

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**Dun dun dun! Finally the big moment's here! Or… nearly here anyway. I'm really proud of the quote I managed to come up with at approximately 3 in the morning. XD**

**I also put in Layla because… well, I just like her, she's cool. :D**

**Anyways, review~**


	26. Lake Aquamarine

Chapter Twenty-Four: Lake Aquamarine

**Lucy's POV**

Decisions were funny things. You spent sometimes mere seconds choosing or you spend days. Often the decision is decided by which option has the most pros or cons but since that didn't work for me, I ended up trying to use intuition instead.

Then Cana and Juvia came to talk to me. I walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face, still thinking about their words. I can't believe I had never noticed it before myself. Just another thing to prove how dense I was.

_Tomorrow we're going back to Magnolia, _I thought as I pulled my fingers through my knotty hair, _I'll tell them tonight what I've decided. Then hopefully we can go back to Magnolia happily and not have any more problems. I just hope he won't be too sad… _I thought of his smiling face, hoping he wouldn't lose it because of me.

When I finished getting dressed, both boys stirred in their bed. I had just ordered breakfast via Archive magic. There was a small black device in each hotel room I supposed which could communicate with any room throughout the whole hotel with the press of a button. It was pretty cool; who knew how useful Archive magic could be?

I turned to Natsu and Gray, smiling as they sat up, blinking sleepily. I was grateful to see Gray still wearing pants.

"Ohayo," I smiled.

"Ohayo," they both said drowsily, obviously still half-asleep. I suppressed a laugh as they both fell back asleep, snoring loudly. Just then, the small device beeped to let me know someone was calling our room. I pressed the receive button and an Archive magic screen opened in front of me. Erza appeared on the small screen, already awake naturally.

"Lucy?" said Erza, "Ohayo."

"Ohayo," I smiled, "Awake already, of course. So, what are we doing today?"

"I thought we could probably go our own ways today," replied Erza, "Everyone wants to go to different areas and we don't have enough time to visit everything as a group. Are you OK with that?"

"Sure," I said. I would have to take a map from the lobby if I didn't want to get lost but it seemed fine.

Erza shifted on the screen as if trying to look behind me, "Are those two buffoons still asleep?"

"Um… yes?" I said.

"Lucy, move," said Erza. I did as she said and Erza shouted loud enough to wake the dead, "YOU TWO, UP!"

"ERZA?" yelled both Gray and Natsu, jumping straight out of bed. They stared at her on the screen, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, "ERZA'S EVERYWHERE!"

"SHUT UP!" yelled Erza, even louder if that was humanely possible but it was effective. Both boys shut right up.

Erza sighed irritably, a vein pulsating on her head but managed to keep her voice level as she spoke, "We're going wherever we want today, got it? Out of everyone, I am most concerned about you three."

"Eh? Me too?" I said, pointing to myself.

"Yes," said Erza, "Even if your family has lost their fortune, you still have a pretty recognisable face, Lucy. Plus your gold keys are practically on display for potential thieves. A big city like Jorgen has a lot of thieves that are dangerous, whether they're a mage or not and, no offence, you seem to attract… trouble. So just try to stay in crowded areas and don't wander too far from this hotel or from everyone else, OK?"

"OK," I said.

"As for you two," said Erza, turning to Gray and Natsu, "I have slim to no faith in that you'll leave this town without making some sort of riot. You are both strong mages with short tempers so I'm almost certain you'll destroy at least one building. So keep in mind there is a freaking base for Magic Council members right here in the city and DON'T DESTROY ANYTHING! If you do, I'll throw you in a volcano," she looked at Gray, "and take you on a cruise for a week," she looked at Natsu. Gray already began to sweat and Natsu turned slightly blue-purple.

"Hai, Erza," said both of them.

"Good. Bye," said Erza, signing off. The screen disappeared and Natsu and Gray immediately sat down on opposite sides of the room and started shivering in fright from her threats involving their fears of heat or motion sickness.

"Motion sickness, motion sickness, motion sickness…" said Natsu, shaking in fright at the thought of being on a ship for a week.

"It's going to be really hot, really hot, really hot…" said Gray on the other side of the room, looking as if Erza had already threw him in the volcano. His hand suddenly went to the waistband of his pants.

"KEEP YOUR PANTS ON!" I screamed, covering my eyes.

As we split up in town and went our separate ways, I looked at the large (and I mean large) map and tried to figure out where I was.

"I think this building is here somewhere…" I muttered to myself, scanning the map for the name. I sighed and looked up to rest my eyes which I was squinting for around an hour.

"Stupid map," I muttered. But really, it was my fault. I should have just stayed around some of the others instead of wandering off on my own. I sighed and looked back down at the map when a name suddenly caught my eye.

_Lake Aquamarine? _I thought, looking at the blue blob on the map that indicated a lake was there. It was right near the area I was standing in now, I realised.

_Well, a lake sounds nice, _I thought, heading towards that direction.

Soon, I reached a large cluster of trees. Not quite big enough to be a forest but still large enough so it would take me fifteen minutes at most to walk through it. Curious, I decided to walk through it and find the lake. The trees were tall, undamaged by men, unlike the rest of the Vegas-like town. Sunlight filtered through the canopy and seemed to light a path for me to follow as I walked along. Finally, I reached a space that seemed to open up into a clearing.

_Finally! _I smiled, folding up the map and putting it in my pocket. Then I ran through into the clearing.

It looked beautiful. The lake was circle shaped and huge and filled up most of the clearing with a thin sparse of land around it to walk on. I walked up to the water and put my hand in the water. It was crystal clear and shimmered with the sun shining on it. It also felt nice and cool.

_What's with all these wonderful places suddenly popping up everywhere? _I thought, grateful that the place was in all its natural beauty without being cleared or destroyed.

Smiling, I sat down on the damp but not wet ground. The grass was almost blindingly green here. If I said the grass was greener elsewhere, I'd be lying. It was even more green and healthy than the grass in Juvia's special spot.

Suddenly, gold and transparent magic circles opened beside me and two shadows burst out. I jerked my head up at the sudden light and looked at them. One had a scarf and the other probably had no shirt on.

"Natsu and… Gray?" I said, surprised as the two flew about, diving in the water and playing around.

_Yep! _said both cheerfully. They zoomed about at unnatural speed and sparred each other in the water. I was about to scold them like I did with the human forms but then I stopped as I heard them laughing in my mind.

_Is this what Natsu and Gray are like when they're not fighting? _I thought as they both tackled each other into the water. I smiled and then even began laughing. Then they both flew over to me and splashed me with water.

"HEY!" I yelled, standing up as they flew off laughing.

_We noticed you were feeling down, _said Shadow Natsu.

_Why? _asked Shadow Gray.

"Just… stuff, it doesn't matter," I replied, rushing for an answer and deciding to quickly change the subject. But the Shadows beat me to it.

_Liar, _said Shadow Gray. I sweat-dropped at how blunt he suddenly said it. I could tell Shadow Natsu was thinking the exact same thing.

"I have to tell the boys something," I said after a moment's hesitation. Both Shadows had come to a stop and floated slightly above the ground in front of me, both curious, "I'm afraid how one will react and feel afterwards."

_Hm… is that so? _said Shadow Gray. Then suddenly they both suddenly flew away. I blinked to see them when I was suddenly in the air.

"O-OI!" I shouted as both Shadows had the strength of their bases and lifted me clear off the ground.

_You need to realise something, _said Shadow Natsu, their grip on me loosening as we floated a few centimetres above the lake.

"Oh, you better not be thinking—" I said just as they dropped me.

The water wasn't a new sensation but it wasn't pleasant. It soaked through my thin clothes easily and I rose to the surface, spluttering like a mad woman. I glared at the two shadows, "What was that for?"

'_Cause frankly, you're blind_, said Shadow Natsu. I stood up; the water wasn't very deep, but it did reach up to my stomach, "What?"

_Don't you think both of them value your friendship too much to let it go because of something like this? _said Shadow Gray.

"It's easy for you to say," I said, my expression softening after a moment, "You can predict the future. Make sure everything goes right. I can't."

_It's not a matter of predicting the future; it's a matter of trust. Don't you trust that whatever happens, they'll be by your side no matter what? _said Shadow Natsu.

I blinked at that, surprised for a second. I thought of both their grinning faces.

_Lucy, _they both said, smiling. Then I thought back on memories.

"…_I promise to never hurt you…", "…I'll never hurt you in any way…" both of them had said that in their confessions to me. _

"_It's friendship necklaces!" said Natsu, "Now we can make sure we're always friends!"_

"…_Out of everyone in the guild, I worry about you the most," said Gray. _

"Yes," I smiled, "They would always be my friends, no matter what." I looked up at the shadows, "Thank you, Ikuto and Akaya." Ikuto was Gray's Shadow and Akaya was Natsu's.

_No problem, _they both said, drifting around with the wind. I shivered at the sudden breeze, _you should probably get out before you catch a cold. _

I nodded, "Yeah…"

I walked out and stood in the sun for a few minutes, thinking about the situation with Gray and Natsu obviously. If I was going to tell them, I would have to do it somewhere no one could interrupt us. I looked at Lake Aquamarine and the clearing, nodding at the sight. If I had to tell them, it might as well be somewhere nice as well.

I searched around in my pocket for the free pen that came with the map (they actually had free pens for every map. Jorgen must be a really rich place) and found it. After writing a few things on the map, I folded it up and called to the Shadows, "Could you guys help me with something?"

"To Natsu and Gray?" said Akaya as he held the map.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Where will we find them?" said Ikuto.

"Um…" I thought about it. It had been about half an hour to an hour since we split up. It would be about time…

I heard a loud crash followed by a fire tower from the middle of town. A second later, a cloud of frost blew up as well.

"Follow the smoke," I said.

"OK…" said both Shadows, sweat-dropping.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Gray's POV**

Natsu was a hard person to fight, as much as I hated to admit it. Even if I could freeze fire, Natsu's flames were definitely much more powerful. He was one of the few people who really gave me a challenge. The others would be Erza… and Lyon… and Laxus… Probably Gajeel too and Gildarts and a whole lot of other people too. But the point was Natsu was strong.

As I dodged another pillar of fire and threw an ice sword at him, I grinned. It really was so much fun sparring with Natsu.

We both landed on our feet, panting and grinning at each other.

"You know Erza's going to kill us," I said.

"We'll worry about that when it happens," replied Natsu, his magic circle appearing.

"Right," I said, my own appearing.

Before we could release our attacks though, something flew between us. I widened my eyes like Natsu.

"Shadows?" said Natsu, suddenly growing excited, "And mine is there too! Whoo-hoo!"

He immediately forgot about the fight and ran like a little kid at Christmas to the Shadows, "Hey! You're Lucy's shadows right? Is she here? What's it like being a shadow? Are you lost?" he looked at the map they were holding at the last question. I laughed slightly and walked over, "I doubt it, Natsu."

_Actually, we came to give you this from Lucy, _said one shadow, mine. Shadow Natsu handed us the map before they both flew off, _Bye!_

"From Lucy, huh?" said Natsu, walking over and peering over my shoulder, "What is it?"

I unfolded the unnaturally humongous map and saw a space circled in red. An arrow led from it to the side where writing was.

"Lake Aquamarine?" said Natsu, looking at the circled space. I looked at the writing.

_Dear Natsu and Gray,_

_Meet me here tonight at 11. Don't bring anyone with you. I'm going to tell you what I've decided._

_Lucy. _

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**Sorry I haven't updated for so long! I've been busy lately… :(**

**But anyways, the next chapter is the telling of the decision! How will they react, who will Lucy choose, how will the story end, will people love or hate me for the next chapter? XD**

**Well, all will be revealed next~ **

**Review as well~**


	27. Fairytale

Chapter Twenty-Five: Every Life Has the Potential to be a Fairytale.

**Lucy's POV**

As I sat under a tree near the lake, Aquamarine, I tried to think happy thoughts. The Shadows had reported back to me earlier in the day and let me know Gray and Natsu had received the message. Now all I had to do was wait. Which kind of stunk. Sometimes the wait was even worse than the actual problem itself. It was pretty cold too and I regretted not bringing a jacket along since it was eleven at night.

Suddenly, the two shadows I sent to look out for them appeared in front of me. I nearly fell backwards at the surprise.

_They're nearly here,_ said Ikuto and Nikki.

"I see. Thank you," I said.

_You're sure about your decision right?_ said Nikki.

I nodded my head, "Yeah."

_Then we're going back,_ said them both.

"OK," I said, "Thanks. I'll let you know how it turns out."

They disappeared just as two people walked into the clearing. I recognised them both in the moonlight even if they were just slightly lighted silhouettes since one was shirtless and one had a scarf.

I was about to stand up and walk over to them when I froze at the last minute and ran behind the tree I was sitting under, hyperventilating.

_I can't do it, I can't do it! _I thought, having a mental breakdown behind the tree. I let out large breaths and tried to calm myself down. It was like before a big test. Firstly you feel confident and determined but at the last minute when you actually have to do it, you have a big breakdown and suddenly feel nervous.

"Oi, Lucy, we know you're behind that tree," said Gray.

I changed to stone metaphorically anime-style and my head slowly turned around. I could see them standing near the lake, watching me concernedly.

"Oi, are you OK?" said Natsu.

"I'm fine!" I said, running out before I could run in the opposite direction away from them, "No problem at all!"

"You suck at lying," said both at the same time.

"Shut up!" I shouted at both of them.

"Sorry," said both.

"Anyway," I said, sighing and looking at them both evenly, "I told you to come here because I'm going to make the decision. I thought about it for a really long time and I've finally decided. I just hope that you guys won't be too mad at me or get too sad because of what I've chosen."

"We can never hate you Luce," said Natsu. Gray smiled beside him to show he agreed.

"I know," I sighed, "That's what makes it so… hard. You guys are too nice; I'm afraid I'm going to hurt one of you."

"You're not going to," said Gray. I almost felt like crying which was stupid since I hadn't even begun to say anything yet, really. But it felt good to finally just say what I've always wanted to to the people who were actually involved.

I sighed and looked at the both in the eye. Then I said quickly, "Natsu, can you come with me?" I looked at Gray, "Stay there, OK?"

"O…K," said Gray, cocking his head. Natsu raised an eyebrow but followed me as I walked to the forest of trees. We walked for a while in the forest. I was stalling for time as Natsu followed me, trying to think of what I would say.

Finally I stopped as we reached a large tree. Moonlight filtered through the leaves and it was quite a nice spot really. Dark and kind of eerie but bright and beautiful at the same time.

"Um…" I turned around to face Natsu, who stopped a little in front of me. I let out a breath and calmed myself. Their reassurances had calmed me so I was fine; voice steady and firm yet gentle at the same time, "Natsu, I—"

"It's Gray, isn't it?" said Natsu, completely serious. I tried to read his face. His usually open face was closed now and stoic; his expression unreadable. It upset me to see that but I figured it would better to tell him now than later. I nodded stiffly.

"I figured as much," said Natsu.

"You could tell?" I said.

"The oldest trick in the book," said Natsu, "… Again."

I smiled at his reference to our first time going to the sushi place.

"Why… Gray, though?" asked Natsu.

I flinched. Of course it was natural for him to ask that, but all the same, I had been kind of hoping…

"Um," I said, sighing again and confidence rising in me. Sometimes people just had to hear the truth, "Well, first of all, I had this… situation with Gray way before you asked me out. I never told you about it because it was just too complicated and I just wanted to run away from it. Obviously that never worked though."

I looked up at his expression. He looked at me emotionlessly, not seeming offended I didn't tell him earlier so I continued.

"Basically, I loved Gray first. We had a couple of complications and I rejected him at first because of them. Then I had to run to Demon Crosses and while I was there, I thought Gray hated me or wouldn't bother anymore because I left him the first time. Apparently he thought I hated him too. During that time, you were very nice to me, and I will always be grateful to you because of it, and I thought I'd fallen for you. If I had to move on with anyone, it'd be you. I had felt… something for you when you kissed me then but… I was thinking of Gray at the time," I smiled, remembering Juvia and Cana's point they brought to my attention, "So he was the one who I loved all along. I had always wanted you to just… become Gray but you couldn't of course. I didn't realise at the time but I just thought I was kissing Gray when I kissed you. So that's where that spark came from."

"So you loved Gray all along?" said Natsu. His face was still closed.

I nodded, "Yeah."

"… That's OK," said Natsu. His tone was very convincing but I wasn't buying it.

"Stop lying Natsu," I said.

His poker face finally disappeared to be replaced with sadness and reject.

"Well, you can't expect me to not be sad," said Natsu, sitting down on a large rock at the base of a tree. The moonlight shone off his face and I could see how much my decision had affected him.

"I'm not," I said, sitting down on the rock beside his, "I know I've already expected too many things from you without even knowing but I'm not going to, anymore."

Natsu was quiet for a while. Being Natsu, I didn't really see that as a good sign.

"I'd… always thought you did love Gray," said Natsu finally, "Though I was in denial of it."

I widened my eyes slightly at that but stayed silent. Natsu, despite what I'd thought, was pretty observant, more than I gave him credit for.

"I was always pretty afraid of loving someone," said Natsu, "They always get taken away. Igneel, Lisanna, even Happy was nearly taken away from me at Edolas. So since then, I've been kind of careful. You were the first one after them who I really loved."

"Did you just say Lisanna?"

Natsu looked up and looked curiously at me, "Yeah. It was a long time ago before she 'died'. Though I don't know how she feels now…"

I smiled at his cluelessness. Then I pulled him into a gentle hug around his shoulders. He seemed surprised but then I spoke first.

"'There is always one character that remains throughout the whole thing; loving, protecting and caring for the main character'," I quoted, "A good friend told me that, Natsu. Try thinking about who was there for you, long before I was."

Natsu cocked his head confusedly but then slowly began to register what I said. Then he grinned and I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the Natsu I knew.

"Guess you're right Luce," said Natsu. Then he stood up and turned away, "You should go back to Gray. It's not good to keep a guy waiting either."

Then he started walking back in the general direction of town, murmuring to himself about his 'special girl'. I laughed slightly that he was so dense, but he would discover her eventually.

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Gray was still standing there when I came back.

"Hey," I said casually.

"Hey," Gray replied. He looked behind me, "Where'd Natsu go?"

"To find his special girl," I said, laughing slightly. I smiled at him, "He was pretty determined."

I could see some shock and hope appearing on his face, "So that means…"

I smiled and nodded.

Gray grinned and grabbed me by the wrist.

"O-OI! What the heck—" I began before Gray's lips met mine. His hands tangled themselves in my hair and I wrapped my arms around his neck. It was our best kiss yet, gentle yet desperate and fiery. TNT explosions were going off inside me as we just stood there with the moon and stars reflecting off the clear blue waters of the lake.

Finally we separated for air. Gray grinned and panted slightly, "You have no idea how long I've waited to do that."

"I get the feeling," I said, "Do you want to go back?"

"Why?" said Gray, lowering his head again as I smiled and waited for him.

My necklace gleamed in the moonlight, the brightest, shiniest silver.

_Every life has the potential to be a fairytale. Even mine. _

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**THE END! **

**Well, not really. There's still an epilogue after this. :D**

**But anyways, yeah! That's technically the final chapter! I kept rewriting and rewriting and rewriting, just to conclude this story~ I had so many writer's block moments, it wasn't even funny anymore. **

**Anyways, review~ **


	28. Epilogue

Chapter Twenty-Six: Epilogue.

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**WARNING: There will be spoilers if you have not watched/read past the time skip yet. Read at your own risk!**

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_Dear Mother and Father,_

_It has been fifteen years since Gray and I officially got together again. I still can't believe seven years passed when that Acnologia attacked Tenrou Island but in the three years that followed, we all slowly forgot about it and started to move on. Really, nothing has actually changed._

_Two years after the Tenrou Island incident, Gray and I decided to get married. I know you two have never even met him but I know you'd approve of him. He's a great guy, always caring for me and keeping me out of trouble (and vice-versa). We are still happily married~_

_Oh yeah. A couple more couples formed in the guild~ Elfman and Evergreen unexpectedly became a couple. They are currently engaged. And Gajeel is dating Levy! At first I was completely shocked, even though I do trust Gajeel. But over time, Levy seems genuinely happy and loves him so I started to share her happiness. _

_Also, you're now both grandparents~ A year after we got married, when I was twenty, I had a daughter. We named her Mizumi N. Fullbuster (now five) because well, Mizumi means lake or river and plenty of good things in my life seem to happen near lakes/rivers such as my kiss with Gray, where I said my decision, where I kissed Gray after the decision... Her middle initial comes from our special friend, Natsu. Without him, we wouldn't be where we are now. Speaking of him, he and Lisanna are an official couple and they would get married if he only popped the question. They are adorable together. I knew Lisanna was his perfect girl. _

_I still miss you both, Mother and Father, and I always will. _

_Sincerely,_

_Lucy._

I smiled and put down my pen, folding up the letter. Then I placed it in the special box I still had from when I was seventeen. It was getting crammed with letters but I didn't really want to replace it.

"Mummy!" called a voice all of a sudden. I looked up in surprise and saw Mizumi standing in the doorway. She smiled widely and ran into my open arms, "Mummy, are you taking me to Fairy Tail today?"

"Maybe," I said, smiling, holding her at arm's length. Mizumi was five years old now and had deep navy blue hair like her father. It was short at the back where it flipped up slightly and had long side parts at the front with two silver clips in the right side part. She inherited my brown eyes except wider and more childlike. Mizumi always wore an aquamarine coloured halter type dress with a ruffled hem and white shoes.

Mizumi began to pout, "_Please _take me Mummy! Uncle Natsu said he was going to teach me how to fight!"

"He did, did he?" I said pleasantly, making a mental note to punch Natsu's head later. Suddenly I heard a noise and smiled at Mizumi, "I think Daddy's home."

"Yay!" said Mizumi, running for the door and pulling it open. Gray was standing there as expected, "Daddy!"

Gray hadn't changed much over fifteen years (well, eight years since seven passed without our knowledge). He got a bit taller and his features matured a bit but he was still Gray, the one I fell in love with. I didn't think I changed much either. Only my hairstyle. I now had a small braid in an arc across my forehead and my hair was pulled up in a medium ponytail. But apart from that, I didn't think I changed at all. We were both still mages, only we couldn't really go on missions together since we liked Mizumi to have at least one parent present.

"Hey," said Gray, ruffling her hair, "Were you good today?"

"Yep!" grinned Mizumi, looking back at me, "Wasn't I, Mummy?"

"Yes, you were," I said, walking out and kissing Gray on the cheek, "Welcome home… A beautiful home."

Since we got married, I left the apartment and we built a beautiful house on top of the mountain where Gray loved. It was pretty far from town but Mizumi didn't seem to mind since Natsu and Happy's house was nearby and she loved her Uncle Natsu.

"I'm home," said Gray. He smiled at me and then down at Mizumi.

"Daddy, Daddy, look!" said Mizumi. She closed her eyes and concentrated as Gray and I both watched her. A small aquamarine magic circle appeared above us and small flakes of snow began to fall, "I did it this morning!"

"That's amazing!" I cried, beaming at her.

"Not bad, Mizu," praised Gray, looking prouder than he let on, "Daddy's gonna teach you some more magic since you've learnt that!" He crouched down in front of her and began gesturing about this and that of ice magic.

Mizumi was just as passionate as Gray about ice magic and she paid attention intently.

I stood there and smiled warmly at them. My family, the ones I loved more than anything.

"And Daddy's gonna teach you how to make a HUGE," Gray gestured with his arms apart, "bazooka!"

"AS IF!" I yelled, hitting him across the head, "I want her to keep her innocence until she's at least ten!"

"Ow, ow, ow… Hai, hai…" said Gray, hands on his head.

Mizumi laughed, "Mummy and Daddy are silly!"

We all laughed together then, as a family. After a while, I stopped and looked, smiling at my family.

_Every life has the potential to be a fairytale... Now, I've just completed mine. _

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**The End. **

**I really would just like to thank those who reviewed for/favourited/alerted Ice Princess and its sequel, Fairytale. I appreciate all your comments, constructive criticism, praise or anything. So, if you want to, please leave a review so I can see what you guys think of this story (or Ice Princess).**

**P.S: I'm thinking of going hiatus for a while once I finish the other two stories I'm currently writing now~ But don't worry, I'm planning to write another Fairy Tail story once I get back because, well, it's an awesome series. :D**

**P.P.S: I would like to think Retina found Freya, Aston maybe joined Fallen Dark and Mizumi grew up to be a beautiful and amazing mage like her mother but those are all another story. :)**

**Bye now, but not forever! **

**~Kiki Hikari~**


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